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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28571304">fair game</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cxlesstial/pseuds/cxlesstial'>cxlesstial</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Future, Bickering, Black Character(s), Blood and Violence, Cannibalism, Character Death, Flashbacks, Flooding, Found Family, Gangs, Gen, Global Warming, Human Turtles (TMNT), LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, Natural Disasters, Post-Apocalypse, Protective Siblings, Racism, Science Fiction, Team as Family, Tsunamis, flashbacks through dreams omfg such an original trope, i aged everyone up lmfao, it's great, leo kills people with his sword, new york is dead AND gone baby, the boys fight cannibals they aren't ACTUALLY cannibals HELP, yall know how brothers bicker....imagine them doing it cause its the end of the goddamn world</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:14:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>36,769</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28571304</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cxlesstial/pseuds/cxlesstial</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The complaining is immediately silenced at the look of blind panic on Donnie’s face, and they all stare at the television with wide eyes. Donnie can sense his father standing from the couch, can hear him stepping forward and can feel him place a weathered, calloused hand on his shoulder.</p><p>The woman speaking in the newsroom is frantic, coils from her hair keep falling out of her bun into her face, and she keeps brushing them away as she speaks. “At least California, Oregon, Florida, Seattle, and New York are expected to receive massive devastating tsunamis, I repeat, every side of the country is expected to be hit with a size twelve tsunami. This is not a drill. Move farther inland immediately. This is not a drill, America - move farther inland or you will die.”</p><p>-</p><p>Donnie and his brothers have lived the past three years in a world ravaged by natural disasters, scavenging desperately for supplies and living day-to-day between the crevices of the hostile gangs that'd boomed when the law enforcement bought their last bullet. What's the catch, you may ask?</p><p>There's literally no ground to walk on.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. dayglow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>before we start! the brothers are human in this one - they're all blasian!! :)</p><p>also thank u goose for helping me write this shit i adore you this first chapter is for you babe</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Donnie finds<em> tonight</em>, of all nights, in the safety of his disturbed and restless sleep - the remnants of a world untarnished and unscathed. </p><p>Whenever dreams come to him, they usually were just nightmares laced with whatever fresh horror that’s tormented him and his three brothers since the catastrophic and devastating incident only three years before. But tonight was different. Tonight he dreamed of his seventeenth birthday.</p><p>
  <em> It started off just as he remembered it; Leo energetically jumping on his bed at 7:00 on the dot to wake him up. The fluffy duvet flattened against Donnie’s body as Leon sprawled across the entirety of it. “Wake up, Dee, it’s our birthday and Mikey’s made breakfast!” he makes no effort to keep his voice down for his rudely awakened brother, which Donnie does not appreciate. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Technically it’s still only my birthday, since you were born later tonight,” Donnie mutters back blithely, weakly batting Leo’s expertly twisted dreads out of his face. Leo laughs in the way he does when he doesn’t believe a single word that comes out of his twin’s mouth, and Donnie sighs resolutely. “Get off of me.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “No, ‘cause if I do then you’ll go back to bed and I’ll have to get Raph to get you out of here and that’ll take too long I wanna eat birthday breakfast now!” Leo whines, and he’s only been awake for maybe a minute and a half but Donnie swears he’ll kill Leo where he lays.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “If I promise to get up will you get off of me? You’re hurting my back,” Donnie pulls out the weak back excuse, knowing Leo would automatically get off of him. It works like he knows it would, and Leo drops off the bed to the carpeted floor, still staring at him intensely. Donnie yawns, pulling himself to an upright position with only minimal difficulty. “We’re seventeen now, huh?” he murmurs, and Leo nods vigorously, still wearing that million watt beam. “One more year and we’ll be legal adults in the system.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “We’ve done pretty much all the cool shit adults do anyway,” Leo’s smile fades quickly into a smirk, and he holds out his hand to pull Donnie out of bed. Donnie considers the hand, then takes it and stands. Half his bones pop with disuse and Leo looks him over in disapproval. “Christ, Dee, how many hours was it this time?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Three,” Donnie snaps back, rolling his eyes. “At least I didn’t sneak to the kitchen for coffee -  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Yeah, ‘cause Raph hid the fuckin’ coffee machine, so you couldn’t drink any if you tried!” Leo snipes, turning on his heel and effortlessly stepping around half of Donnie’s abandoned projects to get to the door. “Now come on, everyone else is awake and we’re all waiting for you.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be right there,” Donnie waves him off and grabs his hoodie from the bottom end of his bed, slipping it on. He glances in his mirror, noting the dark circles under his eyes with an air of indifference. His eyes raised to his hair, which was an unkempt mess on the top of his head - and he’d never forgive Dad for letting him get that undershave -  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Leo’s voice comes impatiently from the hallway. “Donnie, come on -   </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Sighing again, Donnie crosses the room and tries the threshold, but stubs his pinkie toe on the door hinge. Yelping, he stumbles into the hallway, grabbing desperately at his foot. Leo’s laughter resounds through the entire apartment as Donnie curses door frames out of existence. </em>
</p><p>“...Donnie?” </p><p>...</p><p>“Donnie, wake up,” Raph says urgently, and Donnie startles immediately, reaching for his weapon. “Hey, hey, calm down, buddy, it’s - it’s just me - </p><p>Donnie’s eyes frantically jump around the dark interior of their temporary shelter, slowly relaxing when he realizes that yes, his brothers were safe, no one was attacking or even <em> there </em> in the first place. He slowly returns his gaze to his oldest brother, who’s still watching him anxiously. “Hey, Raph,” Donnie tries quietly. “Sorry.”</p><p>“Don’t apologize, s’just habit,” Raph shrugs it off, leaning back on the balls of his feet. He was crouched in front of Donnie, fluffy poof of hair tied back in a messy bun. The scars across his face were bright in comparison to the rest of his brown complexion - messily earned from a desperate fight for a couple measly scraps of food. “You looked like you were havin’ a pretty good dream, though - what was it about?”</p><p>“Our seventeenth birthday,” Donnie replies, gesturing to Leo as he does so, and a mixture of expressions flit across Raph’s face so quickly Donnie can barely recognize them - anger, sadness, regret - to be expected, really. It was the day everything happened, anyway. Donnie sighs, recognizing the emotion that Raph stopped on, reaching for a hand. “It wasn’t your fault,” he reminds him, hoping to lift that guilty look. “You know it wasn’t.”</p><p>Raph looks away, neither agreeing nor disagreeing to that statement, but clutches Donnie’s hand in his own tightly before pulling away. “I’m gonna go wake Leo, can you take stock with Mike?” Raph says instead, and Donnie nods as his oldest steps to his twin. Donnie glances around the room again - it <em> must </em> have been an office building pre-catastrophe, considering the oval desk and matching chairs - and slowly stands, using the wall as support. Throwing his arms above his head in a curled position as he stretches, he yawns, eyes squeezed shut as he works through the residual feelings of exhaustion. He bends, grabs his staff, and slides it into the holster he wore permanently around his shoulders.</p><p>“Ready for the day,” he mutters sarcastically under his breath as he crosses the room towards Mikey, who’s messing with the abandoned countertop water dispenser. He glances at him as Donnie approaches, waving tiredly with his free hand. “Hey, ‘Angelo,” Donnie greets, watching him struggle with a snort. “How’re you doing - </p><p>“Don’t snort at me, Dee,” Mikey utters distractedly as he messes furiously with the knobs. His curls bounce precariously, untamed from the crazy weather they’d been having recently. “D’you <em> see </em> all this water? This shit’ll keep us going for at <em> least </em> a couple days - </p><p>“Not if you waste it,” Donnie retorts, pushing Mikey aside gently. “Let the genius scientist of the family preserve the precious water, oh dear brother of mine,” he gently maneuvers the knobs, sliding one of their metal water bottles under the head as Mikey scoffs. “If you wanna be useful check through the food and what we’re running low on - ah, <em> bingo</em>,” he grins as he tilts it slightly forward and water spills out of the machine. Not a drop is wasted and three metal bottles are neatly filled. </p><p>Mikey’s diligently going through their food supply as Donnie works, murmuring under his breath as he goes through the different items. “Chex mix, chex mix, <em> chex mix </em> , fuckin’ hell Imma <em> kill </em> Raph for grabbing all this bland ass shit the last place we hit.” Donnie laughs and Mikey, grinning, turns his backpack upside down and watches the cans spill out over the counter. “Canned peaches?” he snaps derisively, turning and glaring at their other brothers. “Which one of you thought it’d be a good idea to grab canned <em> peaches </em>-</p><p>Leo rolls his eyes. “Shut up, peaches are great.” </p><p>“Peaches don’t <em> belong </em> in cans, Leon!” Mikey says, clearly gearing up to go on another chef-induced rant of his. Donnie sighs and prepares himself for more sibling bickering. Personally he didn’t mind <em> where </em> peaches came from, as long as they ended up in his or one of his brother’s stomachs.  </p><p>“Yeah, well, s’not like we had much choice,” Raph points out as he folds the blanket Mikey and Leo were sharing and stuffs it into the rucksack he’d be carrying to wherever they ventured to next. “You know how hard it is to come across untouched pantries in apartments like we did, and most of the stores an’ shit are now underwater.” </p><p>“Dee’s the best swimmer outta all of us, he could nab some shit!” Mikey protests, though he knows it’s futile when they all send him a deadpan look. “Don’t look at me like that, I jus’ don’t wanna live off a’ fuckin’ <em> peaches </em> for the rest of my life - </p><p>“The economy is history, society is ruined, nothing and <em> no </em> one have come to save us since New York was literally <em> decimated </em> three years ago, and you’re complaining about <em> peaches</em>? Mikey, babe, seek mental help,” Leon chuckles, stepping over to the window and scanning the outside. Donnie knows what he’s looking for and feels his heart thump anxiously. They’d have to move soon. They never could stay in one place for too long.</p><p>“I don’t like how we’re all so comfortable in sending <em>me</em> down for supplies,” Donnie whines, tossing a metal bottle to Raph and handing one to Mikey before stuffing the last one in his own pack. Leo’s was still half full last time he checked, but Donnie would probably have to sacrifice some of his own water before they found refills. “You’re well aware of what’s <em>in</em> that water, right? Sharks, crocodiles, snakes, pufferfish, oh - and <em>box</em> <em>jellyfish</em>, which produce extremely potent venom - </p><p>“Yeah, but you’re the best swimmer in the family, if anyone could snag us supplies it would be you,” Mikey grins cheekily. “Plus, I think we’ll have to do it eventually. If we don’t get out of this city we and the rest of the peeps still alive are gonna pick this whole place clean, and <em> then </em> what?”</p><p>“We make a boat and escape,” Leo shoots back, and Donnie gives up on adding his input to the conversation entirely, since they had this back-and-forth discussion every other day. “Or we find a plane and fly outta here. There’s gotta be a place out there that’s...I dunno? Better.” </p><p>“Yeah, said everyone <em> ever</em>,” Raph glanced over their sleeping area to make sure he didn’t miss anything important. When he deems it fine he joins Leo by the window. “Look, every escape outta here everyone’s <em> taken</em>, okay? Planes, jets, boats, fuck, even <em> hot air balloons</em>. With the sea levels the way they are we’d be <em> swimming </em> to the next major city - and even if we didn’t die by one of Donnie’s little sea monsters he just listed off we’d just be in the same situation we’re in right now.”</p><p>“So what are we gonna <em> do</em>, Raph? Dee and Leo are twenty, you’re twenty-one. I’m <em> nineteen</em>. We’ve been in this shit for three years, just barely making it by playing our cards by the right people,” Mikey sniffs. “You know we’re grateful to you for keeping us alive all this time, but - <em> fuck</em>, is this gonna be our lives forever?” Donnie glances at him, sees the desperation he usually hid so well under an optimistic demeanor, and slips an arm comfortingly around his shoulders.</p><p>Raph looks towards the two of them and the sentence he’d been about to utter dies in his throat. Softening, he tugs Leo over to the other two and holds his arms out, initiating a group hug. “As long as we’re together, I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” is all he says, wrapping his muscled arms around all three of them. Since he’s the broadest out of all of them, he’s able to encase them all easily, and Donnie’s truly grateful for it - he just feels safer in his big brother’s arms.</p><p>Maybe it’s because Raph intimidated every person still alive in the city <em> except </em> his brothers and Sunita, Donnie’s not sure. He’s genuinely not sure if he cares. </p><p>They stay like that for another minute before pulling away, and Raph motions towards the window. “Come on, we’ve gotta go. We’re meeting up with Sunita, and she’s in <em> Upper Manhattan</em>. We’re gonna have to cross both the Purple Dragons’ and the rest of the Foot’s territory to get there, and y’all know how fuckin’ <em> ruthless </em>they can be.” He wags a hand radio, battery-operated, and Donnie knows <em>she's</em> been in contact.</p><p>“I can sense lots of stealth in our futures,” Leo sighs, sliding his katana in its sheath first before pulling his backpack on over it. “Why are we visiting Sunita this time?” </p><p>“She’s got a ‘thorn in her side’,” Raph makes air quotes as he says so, “And she wants to see us, I think. She’s got something she wants us to check out - something she thinks we’d benefit from.”</p><p>Donnie scrutinizes him, immediately sensing Raph wasn’t telling the entire truth. “Something we’d benefit from? Raph, what’d she say <em> exactly</em>?” </p><p>Raph flushes. “She just told me to check in and she’d just tell us...she has. A friend,” Raph explains reluctantly, clearly choosing his words carefully as he stumbles around the big information. “A friend that could help <em> all </em> of us, her words exactly.” </p><p>“Help us with what? Food?” Mikey slides the rest of the cans into his backpack and zips it up, and just like that they’re all ready. Raph walks towards the door, and the rest of them follow, eager for what he has to say next. “Come on, Raph, don’t hold out on us, what’d she say?”</p><p>Raph’s hesitant to divulge any more information, Donnie can tell. “Raph, what <em> is </em> it?” Leo presses.</p><p>Raph pauses at the wake of the door, sighing. “Help us escape,” he says quietly, loudly enough so they can all hear. </p><p>-</p><p>Leo and Mikey are all talk as they climb the stairs to the roof, pestering Raph for more information that he couldn’t give. Whether he was holding it back or just didn’t <em> know </em> the answers Donnie was uncertain on; and it unnerved him. Questions of who this mysterious helper was, how he - Raph had admitted that the person was a <em> he </em> - could help them escape - how Sunita knew him (knew <em> of </em> him, more likely, Donnie’s not buying the whole ‘friend’ bit yet) - and, maybe most importantly - </p><p>“How long did you <em> know</em>?” Donnie tries not to be accusatory with his barbed words, but Raph winces anyway. Leo and Mikey are watching for his response, careful not to miss anything, so Raph breathes out a heavy sigh of resignation and braces himself for their reactions.</p><p>“A couple days,” he reveals tiredly. “I was wondering whether or not to <em> tell </em> you all ta’ begin with -</p><p>“You saw Mikey earlier, why would you downplay our chances of escaping like that <em> if </em> there’s an actual way out of here that we aren’t taking and you <em> knew </em> -</p><p>“Because I don’t wan’ it to be a <em>fluke</em>, or somethin’ that - that’d backfire on us like it did when we lost Dad, okay?<em> I didn’t wanna</em> <em>lose anybody else</em>, <em>Donnie!</em>” Raph rounds on his brother, fire raging through his dark eyes. Donnie swallows thickly at the reminder of his father - the same starved, begging for it to be <em>over</em> reminder - before blinking raggedly and forcing himself to stay locked in the present. “I can’t lose you. <em>Any</em> of you. You know how unpredictable this city is. You <em>know</em> what they’d do for the chance to get out of here.”</p><p>“We’ve gotta go,” Leo states loudly, interrupting Donnie’s response. Mikey’s at his side, gazing across the city and down, down at the water lapping gently against the sides of the buildings. Sometimes, when they rested on a rooftop - be it a skyscraper or an apartment building or <em> whatever </em> - they liked to stare down at the streets filled with water, remember blissfully a time where they <em> weren’t </em> filled with water. “If we’re gonna hit Times Square by tonight we’ve gotta go <em> now</em>.” </p><p>Donnie’s speechless. Usually his siblings would be at Donnie’s side, helping him interrogate Raph. Especially over something as serious as getting out of New York. But they were both so removed from the conversation, looking over the city and internally mapping out the way they’d travel. “Aren’t we gonna <em> talk </em> about this?” Donnie tries, figures that this is the time for a family discussion more than ever. </p><p>“Donnie, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one,” Leo raises his voice slightly to be heard over the wind. “No matter what happens to us, if we’re caught in Foot terf in the open like this when the Sun goes down there’s gonna be trouble. How’re we gonna escape if they catch us and force us to plunge to our deaths?”</p><p>“Hitting the water from this high up would be like hitting concrete,” Mikey adds immediately. “I read about it once.”</p><p>Donnie sighs, holding his hands up in defeat. “Fine, you’re both right. But this isn’t <em> over</em>,” he reminds Raph. “We promised there’d be no more secrets between us. Not after - not after what happened with Dad, how he told us he was dying before it was too late to help him,” Donnie’s voice catches, ‘cause it’s been almost two years but thinking about it was still too hard. </p><p>Raph nods tightly, reaching out to grasp Donnie’s shoulder, and Donnie would have usually pulled away, being mad at his brother like he was, but he leans into the touch instead, feeling just so abnormally tired. Twenty year olds were <em> not </em> supposed to be this tired. He and Leo would talk so excitedly about turning twenty-one, being able to legally drink and be an <em> adult </em> in every sense of the word ‘adult’. Going out to bars with Raph and video-call Mikey and listen to their youngest brother whine because he was too young and ignore their <em> older </em> brother whine about how irresponsible they were all being and - still drive them home - and Splinter would look down at them disapprovingly but he’d still hold Leo’s dreads back while he puked into the toilet and would still pour Donnie his coffee the next morning - </p><p>“We’ve gotta go,” Leo reminds them, glancing anxiously at the sky and the Sun's quick descent. It was already late afternoon; they’d spent <em> way </em> too much time here but Donnie sighs, scrubbing blearily at his eyes before dully reminding himself not to dwell on what could have been. This was his life now, as much as he loathed it and pretended anything but. “Come on, we can chase the scaffolding down and make it over to that FedEx building over there, d’you wanna race, Mike?”</p><p>“No racing, please,” Raph sighs as he and Donnie immediately detangle and hurry over to the edge to stop their younger brothers from literally killing themselves by stupidity. No matter how agile they were, it would only take one misstep or loose footing to fall to their deaths. Raph usually went slower, more due to his bigger stature and weight compared to tiny Mikey. Mikey was the bravest, usually scaling huge buildings just to prove he could do it. Leon talked shit about it, but he, out of all of them, probably <em> was </em> the most nervous about jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He’d jokingly claimed he didn’t want his pretty face to get chomped off by a shark.</p><p>But Donnie knew the truth - Leon had developed almost a fear of heights despite living up in the sky the past three years. And it burned even more on how Leon had to face his fear every single day. He often talked about it with Donnie, quietly and almost scared that he’d judge him - would they ever stand on flat ground again? Run through fields like they’d done when they were kids?</p><p>Donnie’d been hesitant to answer that one, because what if there <em> were </em> no fields left to run in?</p><p>And Donnie? Donnie was quiet about it, mostly, but he found the thrill of landing a satisfying jump between buildings, swinging neatly from bar to bar of scaffolding with the knowledge that it’d hold his weight. Being high up, unlike his twin, gave him a rush of energy and <em> power</em>. He’d been told by doctors that he’d been born with a weak spine and fought everyday afterwards to prove that he was just as capable as anyone <em> else </em> was - either by getting the best grades and almost graduating as valedictorian (he’d been in his first semester of senior year) or riding every single goddamn roller coaster when even <em> Mikey </em> tapped out. </p><p>Donnie hoped he never touched speed in his entire life. He’d be off the walls then, truly. </p><p>He watches his family leap between the office building they descended from to the FedEx roofledge safely before attempting the jump himself, landing soundly on the edge before quickly trekking in towards the center of the surface, regrouping with his brothers as they got lost in the rhythm.</p><p>Sometimes the water receded so you could just see the tops of light poles and traffic lights, but other times, especially when hurricanes blew through (those were awful and made Mikey cry the first time, Donnie wouldn’t recommend) the water rose rapidly, even drowning most of Central Park. It took roughly an hour and twenty four minutes to get from Times Square to the Upper Bay, and when they’d attempted it (this was back before the gangs, back when they could run freely throughout the rooftops and still have <em> hope </em> that things would eventually get better) they’d watched from the safety of a blown out office floor, much like the one they’d spent the night at last night, as the water rocked so hard into the Statue of Liberty she’d fallen over. </p><p>It had been the end of an era, Raph had said, and Donnie had agreed. What they thought was invincible and <em> couldn’t </em> fall had fallen. New York City was no more. </p><p>Until it wasn’t. Everyone who had originally survived the first wave took New York back, bit by bit. Either they split from the city entirely or quickly evolved like Donnie and his family had, building easy accessible ways to get between each building and scavenging whatever the water hadn’t touched. No help was coming, and as Donnie sprints across the rooftops, he tries not to let the dark thoughts take control on <em> why </em> no help was coming.</p><p>“Hey, hold up,” Raph whispers, holding a hand up to get them all to pause. His younger brothers are still behind him, waiting patiently for his next order.</p><p>The Times Square buildings were <em> huge</em>. Reached high into the sky and was once a sight to behold with its banners and vibrant colors. The sunset is gorgeous with its contrasting colors of orange and yellow and purple, reflecting against the clear water and it’s dark billboards far below brilliantly. Unfortunately this place was the very edge of the Foot Clan’s territory.</p><p>The Foot Clan were not new to the scene - they’d been a street gang long before the tsunami had wiped most of New York’s population out. But with no law enforcement tearing them down they’d bloomed rapidly, taking most of Lower and Middle Manhattan for themselves in a matter of months. Donnie much preferred dealing with the Purple Dragon’s then the Foot - he’d been witness to their public executions and Raph was right, they were fucking <em> ruthless</em>. </p><p>Their leader was the infamous Casey Jones, who’d been a very close friend to Sunita before the incident. Donnie doesn’t know what happened between the two girls, nor does he ever really care to find out - both claimed to be polar opposites but were far more alike than they’d ever care to admit. Casey would kill you with no hesitation, but Sunita would sweetly smile while doing so. </p><p>“What is it?” Mikey’s whispering, and Leon shushes him. They’re all crouched behind a roof vent turbine on a huge skyscraper they’d never climbed before - to be clear, they hardly ever crossed into Upper Manhattan, finding it safer to drift between gang territory, picking a different building to stake out in every night - but Donnie feels like he’d remember if they climbed this building. It was one of the highest in the area.</p><p>“Foot,” Raph whispers back, and Donnie feels Leo shift next to him, slowly reaching for his katana. Donnie sighs, readying himself to reach for his own weapon. Splinter had taught them well, but they only used violence in the most extreme of situations. Apparently now was one of them. Raph glares at Leo. “We are <em> not </em> killing them. We’d have half the city on us before we could even blink, and <em> then </em>what?”</p><p>“Aw, come on, we’d just slice their necks and kick em’ into the water, who would find out?” Leo asks innocently. “You <em> know </em>they’d do the same shit to us -</p><p>“That’s not the <em> point</em>, Leon, and you know it - </p><p>“Listen, they’re all gonna start coming out as soon as the Sun goes down, we have maybe half an hour tops to choose a building and get inside, so can y’all hurry up this moral ground bullshit so we can <em> not </em> die and get to Sunita’s alive I’d really fuckin’ like that,” Mikey whispers furiously at the two of them and they stop, blinking over at him in that surprised way they always do when Mikey goes off. Out of all of them Mikey’s got the least of a filter, and it would make Donnie laugh in <em> any </em> other situation if they weren’t on a fifty story building with Foot Clan guards only a couple feet away. </p><p>“You kill them quietly. And <em> quickly</em>. Don’t leave any evidence,” Raph tells Leo sternly, and Donnie’s twin nods seriously, sliding the katana out of its sheath in practiced silence. He creeps out of their hiding hole, and Donnie listens desperately for any sign that he was found out or in danger. “Don’t look,” Raph tells Mikey, and Mikey nods minutely. </p><p>The gurgling sound as Leo slices the first guard’s neck and slashes through the other’s chest is a relief to Donnie, and he manages to stand just in time to see Leon kick the man off the edge of the building, the man sliding with a <em> heavy </em> sound off his twin’s sword and into the water far below. Leo turns to them, flicks his sword once to get the majority of the blood splatter off, and returns the sword to its place. “I didn’t enjoy that,” he says quietly, and Donnie nods in agreement. </p><p>“I know you didn’t,” he reaches for his twin, and Leon buries his face in his neck, taking a shuddering breath. “You good?” </p><p>Pulling away slightly, they rest their foreheads together for a minute, Donnie looking into Leo’s eyes and breathing deeply. After a quiet moment Leo’s ragged breathing matches his brother’s. “Yeah...yeah, I’m good.”</p><p>“Good,” Donnie smiles, pulling away completely. He meets Mikey’s and Raph’s awestruck looks with an unimpressed look of his own. “...What?”</p><p>“I’ve never understood how you both - <em> do </em>that,” Raph gestures expansively at the two of them. “Ever since we were kids, y’all jus’ - </p><p>“It’s a twin thing,” both Donnie and Leo snip back immediately, and the laughter that comes from their younger and older brother alike nearly makes Donnie put the incident that he’d just witnessed out of his mind, though he just knew he’d have nightmares of the limp body sliding off of Leon’s sword later.</p><p>-</p><p>They pulled out of the Foot’s territory without further incident just as the Sun disappeared for the night, quickly picking an uninhabited quiet looking building to spend the night in. Ones that were ugly and looked like they held no valuable items were always their first choice. And they never chose the floor closest to the roof to spend the night in, usually going down three or four or <em> five </em> floors before even thinking about settling down. It made hard work to maneuver sometimes, but they’d survived for three long years using the same tactic and were still alive, weren’t they?</p><p>The place they’d chosen tonight was an abandoned apartment complex, obviously already picked through clean. It meant they’d get actual beds tonight, which was great because they usually only got one of those every other week. They usually stuck to the higher up office buildings because they were harder to access and, more in Donnie’s taste, held all sorts of goodies - gadgets that Donnie could sometimes play around with. That was what his pack usually held, little bits of tech he built in the downtime they had. He likes to dream he’d be able to make a boat or something to escape the city with, but he knows realistically it’s more of a pipe dream.</p><p>“Canned corn and beef jerky again tonight, boys,” Raph sighs, passing out their rations, and they all dig in like it was the most expensive cake in all of Earth instead of three year old food. </p><p>“Not too much of a fan of the corn, gotta be honest,” Mikey says. “I liked the peas better. Or the ravioli.”</p><p>“The ravioli tasted like fucking dog food,” Leon mutters, digging his spoon in deeper into his corn. </p><p>“We never <em> had </em> a dog, dipshit,” Donnie cuffs his shoulder. “How would you know what dog food tastes like?” </p><p>“Oh, I could only imagine,” Leo sighs dreamily to Raph and Mikey’s snickering. “Why didn’t we ever beg Dad for one?”</p><p>“And have it rip up the apartment when he went off to work? Yeah, fat chance,” Raph snorts between bites of jerky. </p><p>“We coulda got a sitter or something, he was <em> Lou Jitsu</em>. He was more famous than all of the other Upper East Siders, anyway,” Leo counters, leaning against the bed frame and watching the candlelight dance. “God, I miss him. He was annoying, but he was <em> Dad</em>. He fuckin’ - sat there for <em> hours </em> and helped me with math homework when Dee got too tired of my complaining over Algebra - and then took me for falafels afterwards. For fucking <em>falafels</em>.”</p><p>“He would have wanted us to get out of here,” Donnie murmurs, looking towards Raph in what could only be interpreted as an apology for his behavior earlier. “D’you really think Sunita knows what she’s talking about?”</p><p>“I dunno, but wouldn’t you want to <em> try</em>? It’s either that or spend forever spending nights in these buildings, and Mikey was right. We’ll clean out this city eventually. I’d rather not be here when it happens,” Raph blinks gratefully at the unspoken emotion in Donnie’s mahogany eyes, and Donnie takes that as acceptance enough for the apology.</p><p>“What if it’s a trick?” Mikey tilts his head. “I mean, I trust Sunita more than Casey and Kendra - but you can’t deny they’re all fucking evil ass bitches. They’d betray all of us in a heartbeat for their own personal gain.” </p><p>“It’s why I turned down Sunita’s offer when she asked if we’d wanted to join her,” Raph shrugs. “Didja know she used to be nice? Like, <em> actually </em> nice, not that fake bullshit she’s pullin’ now? She had a girlfriend. April O’Neil.” </p><p>“What happened to her?” Mikey asks curiously.</p><p>“No one knows. I think she died in the first wave, but fuck if I’m right or not,” Raph scratches the back of his head. “All that matters is that it’s turned Sunita bitter. And if I’ve learned anythin’ since all this shit started it’s that if somethin’s too good too be true, it usually fuckin’ is.”</p><p>“So why are we -” Leon’s sentence cuts off as there’s suddenly rapid gunfire - from a machine gun, maybe an AK-47, right <em> above </em> them. Mikey immediately blows out the candle, and they all sit in tense silence, listening desperately for the source of the gunfire. When it fires off again they all breathe out in relief. It’s moved on, back into Foot territory. “Fucking <em> gangs, </em> can’t even enjoy dinner with my family,” Leon spits blithely, digging through a backpack, and Donnie knows he’s looking for a flashlight. “Everyone done? We should wake up early, get a jump start. Maybe we can make it through the Dragon’s terf. Get to Sunita’s by nightfall tomorrow.” </p><p>“Yeah, good idea,” Raph agrees as the flashlight is switched on. “Everyone pack up now, we’re out of here at first light.”</p><p>Working by flashlight beam, they’re quick to stuff the candle and rations back into Raph’s rucksack, and then they’re spreading out for the night. Donnie immediately gets the bed because of his back, which leaves Mikey and Leon to squeeze in besides him. Raph doesn’t mind taking the floor, spreading two of the blankets over his body, and it’s all whispered conversations until they start dropping off.</p><p>Donnie doesn’t think sleep would come to him, but it surprisingly comes more quickly than he’d first expected, and it’s - it’s right where it left off earlier.</p><p>
  <em> Donnie follows Leon out of the hallway, rolling his eyes as his twin immediately dives into relaying his little incident with his toe, ignoring the smile curling his face as Raph and Mikey laugh with their whole chests like it was the funniest thing in the entire world, and Splinter comes out from the kitchen with the twin’s favorite foods stacked upon the massive party platter, and Donnie just knows, right then, right there, that he wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> They sing happy birthday while Leon and Donnie fight over who gets to blow the birthday pancakes out like they do every year, laughing when Leo smashes Donnie’s head into the ice cream cake that Mikey pulled out of the freezer to surprise them with, and then Donnie gets his revenge by peeling cake bit off his own face and chasing Leo around with it, and they’re acting like fucking toddlers instead of the adults they almost are but it doesn’t matter, it’s their birthday! </em>
</p><p>
  <em> They eat breakfast, Splinter calls the school so they all have the day off, and they’re all dancing around the living room with music blaring at top volume - a song by Dayglow, Mikey was insistent on listening to happy upbeat indie music instead of Donnie’s “mediocre electronic bullshit”. Splinter’s rolling his eyes and chuckling; he’d long-since given up on watching the news around their horrendous dancing. </em>
  <br/>
  <em><br/>Oh I was something so remarkable - </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “It seems to me! That she! Was only in my head...for a moment, I told you, I lost it!” Mikey choruses horribly as Leo loses his shit over the failed high notes. Donnie chuckles with Raph, but makes the horrible, horrible mistake of glancing towards the near silent television. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tornado over conscious, spinning around the room, your move, your ways I’ll never understand -</em>
</p><p>
  <em> He can barely hear over the lyrics, but the videos on the screen are displaying huge amounts of disturbing material. Faster than Donnie can even blink he sees massive disasters happening all over the country - tornadoes, hurricanes, and what looked to be quickly approaching tsunamis - Florida, California, and -  and - oh, oh god -  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>So, my guess, at best, is only to be just a second man -</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Donnie lunges for Mikey’s phone and pauses the music, leaping for the remote and turning it up as high as it could go. The complaining is immediately silenced at the look of blind panic on Donnie’s face, and they all stare at the television with wide eyes. Donnie can sense his father standing from the couch, can hear him stepping forward and can feel him place a weathered, calloused hand on his shoulder. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The woman speaking in the newsroom is frantic, coils from her hair keep falling out of her bun into her face, and she keeps brushing them away as she speaks. “At least California, Oregon, Florida, Seattle, and New York are expected to receive massive devastating tsunamis, I repeat, every side of the country is expected to be hit with a size twelve tsunami. This is not a drill. Move farther inland immediately. This is not a drill, America - move farther inland or you will die.” </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>the way i loved writing this one babes it's getting real in here</p><p>most of this happened in a dream and i was like hey yknow i should write this it would be great fanfic idea and then i realized...wow i know literally nothing about global warming and how natural disasters ACTUALLY work so my bestie helped me w the science behind all this!! i'd be a wreck without them i was originally gonna have asteroids be the cause of the tsunamis instead of just global warming lmfao</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. rose gold</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Donnie wakes to music.</p><p>Immediately he sits up, feeling the tattered and faded comforter fall from his shoulders and crumple to his toned thighs. Leon mutters in his sleep and turns over, burying himself back in the pillow he and Mikey were sharing - </p><p>Mikey’s not<em> there</em>. Donnie blinks, slowly and sluggishly, like his youngest would suddenly materialize if he just stared at the empty spot on the bed long enough. Nothing happens - but the music only grows louder and sounds like it’s coming from the next room, muffled and poppish sounding. Donnie glances down at Raph, who’s somehow discarded the two blankets layering his body in his sleep. Smiling fondly, he pushes the covers back and pulls the blankets over Raph’s body, then turns back towards the old bed and does the same to Leo.</p><p>Then he sets off, barefoot, on the tiled floor, insistent on finding Mikey and dragging him back before either of his brothers woke and freaked. If his internal clock was doing any good they’d been asleep for maybe seven? Eight hours? The Sun would be rising in maybe thirty minutes, maybe earlier considering how quick it took for the Sun to go down the night before.</p><p>It meant winter was coming soon, and Donnie fucking <em> despises </em> winter. Snow made the buildings icy and slick and hard to climb. Everything got <em> ridiculously </em> colder and of course no one ever had the clothes for it, so they were, <em> best case </em> scenario, forced to huddle together and survive off of even shittier rations then usual. Couldn’t ever build a fire, that’d attract attention with the smoke - so they’d stake out in the top levels of laboratories and use Bunsen Burners for warmth. </p><p>It was extremely pathetic. He used to<em> love </em> winter as a kid. Just another thing that’d been taken from him, he supposes. </p><p>Donnie dispels the thought and opens the adjoining door to the bedroom, stepping into what must have been a living room pre-<em> endoftheworld</em>. Sure enough, Mikey’s sitting on the window ledge, gazing down at the water. He startles as Donnie accidentally steps on a creaky floorboard, but quickly relaxes when he realizes it’s just his older brother. “How’re you?” he mumbles, and Donnie can hear the music clearly now. </p><p>“Pentatonix? <em> Really</em>?” Donnie feels a smile come to his lips as he recognizes Scott Hoying’s deep voice on the track. “You’ve gotta be joking. How’d you even - ”</p><p>“Oh, shut up? You sound like Leo. Pentatonix is top tier.” Mikey points to the coffee table, and for the first time Donnie notices the record player - the record spinning on top is wrecked and scratched and worn but it still plays alright, playing a song Donnie hasn’t heard for a very, very long time. “Y’all acting like we didn’t listen to this song for fuckin’ <em> hours </em> when we were still in elementary school. Found the vinyl over there,” he nods in the direction of the cabinet on the far wall. “Sorry if I woke you, s’just...haven’t heard actual music in forever.” </p><p>Donnie feels the ghost of a smile flit across his lips and crosses over to sit across from his brother. He pulls his legs up on the cold metal and pokes Mikey with a big toe. “Don’t apologize, it’s <em> nice</em>. This song honestly makes me so nostalgic.”</p><p>“I love Rose Gold! I wish we could bring it with us, y’know? The record player - I used to listen to this goddamn album on repeat, like. When Dad let us go play in the streets during winter and we’d make those deformed snowmen…” he trails off as Donnie snickers, remembering in perfect detail, “And then we’d come in and Raph would try n’ beatbox with Kevin and Leon would <em> tryda </em> be Mitch but his voice would fuckin’ crack - god, d’you think they’re still alive?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Donnie says confidently. “An acapella group in the middle of the apocalypse. They’re probably winning this shit.” </p><p>Mikey giggles in response to that, pressing his cheek against the freezing glass. Donnie does the same, humming along to the music. </p><p>
  <em> If it’s true that legends never die, </em>
</p><p><em> Me and you could stand the test of time </em>-</p><p>“D’you ever think about it?” Mikey’s watching the water again, his little breaths fogging up a small portion of the glass, and Donnie can just now see the Sun beginning it’s rise upwards. Soon it’d rise completely and he’d have to go wake their brothers up, but Donnie figures he’s got a bit more time. “Y’know. <em> Everything</em>. What happened.”</p><p>“Depends on if it’s a good day or not,” Donnie murmurs back. “Sometimes it’s easy. Other times it’s just...difficult.”</p><p>“I had a nightmare ‘bout what happened with Dad,'' Mikey whispers, and when Donnie looks over at him he sees the slight tremor in his youngest’s shoulders. “But it wasn’t a nightmare, it was like I was living the entire thing all over again, in the moment, and I could <em> see </em> him, what he <em> said </em> to me before he - </p><p>Donnie makes a sympathetic noise and scoots closer to his brother, entangling their fingers together as he realizes why Mikey was up so early. “I <em> miss </em> him,” Mikey squeezes their conjoined hands really hard. “I dunno why he fuckin’...we woulda <em> helped </em> him, y’know? I feel like it’s our fault since we didn’t catch it in time but he didn’t bother <em> telling </em> us either, s’like? We coulda got him meds, the whole shtick! But he never…” he bumps his head lightly against the window as the song fades out of the chorus and into the next verse. “Christ.”</p><p>“It wasn’t our fault, Mikey, how many times have I had to <em> tell </em> all three of you the same thing - </p><p>“Then why couldn’t Dad get out of the city? It was prolly cause of us, we coulda survived here like we’re doing now while Dad went further inland and he would have <em> made it</em>, Dee - </p><p>“That’s not fair,” Donnie protests.</p><p>“Then why didn’t we leave? We had the money to get out, we -</p><p>“Had nowhere <em> to </em> go,” Donnie reminds him quietly. “Remember what happened between Dad and Grandpa Sho? He gave up his legacy with the Hamato Clan just to move to Los Angeles and become a <em> moviestar</em>. I don’t think he was gonna take us to Japan when he severed his ties permanently with his only remaining family.”</p><p>“Why, though? Pretty sure the end of the world throws all that out the window,” Mikey frowns over at him, unsticking his cheek from the window. His curls are flattened from sleep, making him look both ridiculous and adorable at the same time. Donnie sighs, watching the water gently rush the concrete far below their places at the window. </p><p>“He was too prideful,” Donnie replies slowly. He’d come to the answer after mulling over the same question for years himself. “He didn’t want to crawl back, even when the world was burning around us like it was.”</p><p>“Even at the cost of his own life, huh?” Mikey asks, but it’s clearly rhetorical. Donnie hums in assent and Mikey sighs. After a minute he perks up, snickering. “If we ever get out of here we should go to Japan.”</p><p>“We should,” Donnie agrees instantly, accepting the change in conversation without a beat of hesitance. “I’d love to visit.” </p><p>“Then we should go find Pentatonix,” he giggles, and Donnie laughs as the song switches. They go silent for a second, listening. “Oh my god?” Mikey whispers as he obviously recognizes the beat. “It’s <em> Misbehavin’ </em>. Donnie, we have to dance.”</p><p>“Dance? Mikey, wha - we can’t <em> dance </em> - </p><p>But Mikey’s already standing, twirling around the room and <em> grinning </em> with an air of happiness that he sees so rarely on his brother’s face. He rolls his eyes with a fond grin, standing up to join him and get lost in the feeling of feeling like a kid again. That’s how Leo and Raph find them, two minutes later, Mikey standing on the couch and Donnie on the floor, pointing at eachother and out-of-tunely singing along. “Is this - is that <em> Pentatonix</em>?” Leo scrubs at his face, blinking blearily at the literal chaos in the room. “Eww -</p><p>“Shut up Leo but I wonder are you out there...thinkin’ of <em> meeeeee?” </em> Mikey croons awfully, ignoring Raph’s anything but subtle cackling as Donnie grins, echoing back. </p><p>“Is it stupid that I’m askin’ ‘do you miss me?’” Donnie’s just as awful and out of tune but Mikey squeals, clapping enthusiastically, and it just makes everything worth it.</p><p>“Are you behavin’, cause I’m savin’...all my<em> lovveee </em> for you?”</p><p>“An’ I’m havin’ a good time...but I’d rather be with you - </p><p>Mikey jumps off the couch and they both idiotically jump around and clap their hands to the beat. Leo’s watching them with a dumbstruck expression while Raph’s still laughing. “Are y’all adults or pre-pubescent toddlers,” he deadpans, but Mikey and Donnie simultaneously flip him off and Raph loses it. “I actually hate it here,” Leo says, and Donnie pretends not to see the little smile playing on his lips. “Literally going back to bed.”</p><p>“No you’re not! We’re up early ‘cause of Sunita, <em> rememberrrrr</em>?” Mikey smiles cheekily as Donnie spins him around. “Plus you’re just jelly we’ve got the bod, the voices - </p><p>“And the Pentatonix addiction?” Leo sighs, clearly too tired to make good quips this early in the morning. Usually they slept in until maybe nine/ten or even later to stay focused and alert when climbing between buildings, but it was around six in the morning and Donnie can see the regret etched in his twin’s face. Usually he teased Leo that his only talent was sleeping and Leo would almost always snap back with the ‘at least i’m taking care of myself, can you say the same?’ shit that Donnie could never find an adequate reply for. </p><p>“That too,” Mikey admits as the song fades out and <em> Take Me Home </em> starts playing. “Oh, no, not this song, I refuse to start crying.” Mikey gently pulls the needle up and the record stops. “I’m taking this with me,” he glances around at the three of them as if daring one of them to turn him down. “Wherever we end up we’re gonna find a record player and collect records and this one will <em> be </em> there,” he pulls the record off gently and places it back into its cover, hugging it protectively to his chest. “This is like...the remnants of our past <em> lives</em>, you guys.”</p><p>“Give it to Donnie, the shit in your backpack’s gonna snap it,” Raph shakes his head with a smile. “Let’s get out of here, we can talk on the road.”</p><p>“You mean the lack thereof, right?” Leo complains as he and Raph turn and walk back into the adjoining room. Mikey, humming under his breath, follows, and Donnie glances wistfully towards the record player before walking after them.</p><p>-</p><p>Breakfast is stale-ass dried fruit snacks, and they eat it up on the rooftop quickly before chasing it down with water. The sun is still steadily rising as they take off again, moving with quiet conversations as they focused on scaling the buildings properly. They’re in Purple Dragon terf now, and Donnie’s just - ugh, he hates the Purple Dragons. Not as much as the Foot, but they were <em> such </em> a close second it was unbelievable. As his brothers climb atop a wrecked and ruined Dave &amp; Busters they catch sight of some of them jumping between buildings farther ahead - <em> right </em> in their path - and Leon curses under his breath. “Fuck, <em> why </em> are they already awake,” Donnie manages to catch as Leo kicks a shower of rocks off into the water below. Mikey sighs, readjusting the backpack around his shoulders, and Raph looks on apathetically as the group of Dragons disappear over the rooftop. </p><p>Seconds later there’s an explosion and Donnie can make out the distant sound of cheering. He turns to Raph to catch what their next move would be. Smart thing to do would be to go around and avoid whatever they’re doing at seven in the morning, but going around would take longer to get through Purple Dragon terf and they needed to get to Sunita’s by tonight, for God’s sake. </p><p>Decisions, decisions. Donnie watches as Raph struggles with said decisions and frowns. Donnie adored his oldest, he really did, but to be completely honest here Raph wasn’t getting any leader of the year awards or anything. He froze up in issues like these, clashing his morality and what would be good for him and his brothers together like it was all interchangeable. Him and Leo often butted heads over it.</p><p>“Let’s just keep going this way, if we’re careful we can go right by and they won’t see shit, we’ll be fine and -</p><p>“And what happens if they see us, Leon? It’ll be better to go <em> around</em>, just to be completely safe - </p><p>Oh, right now being a prime example. Donnie exchanges an exasperated look with Mikey, who’s literally just as tired of them constantly going at it as he is. Besides Leon and Donnie himself, no one else in their small family argued quite as much as Raph and Leo. The two of them could either get along like a house on fire or be at each other's throats. Donnie doesn’t know if Leo ever completely got over Raph forcing them to leave Splinter’s body after he died or if he still ruthlessly blamed him for it. Personally Donnie hoped for the former, they’d done what they’d had to back then. </p><p>“Ugh, <em> look</em>, Leo, quit making life so fuckin’ difficult and <em> work </em> with me, here! Why can’t we just go around - it’s safer, we won’t run the risk of fuckin’ getting our heads chopped off by a horde of Dragons - </p><p>“Middle and Upper Manhattan is much harder to climb and you know that, <em> hermano</em>, so <em> you </em>work with me here. We’re getting to Sunita’s by tonight and the quickest way there is through these two buildings - and we can handle Kendra and her stupid ass gang! We’ve done it before - </p><p>“You’re completely missin’ the point, we’re supposed to do this quickly and<em> safely</em>, for God’s sake - an’ who’s the one with the fuckin’ height fear? You’re so headstrong an’ careless it’s unbelievable - </p><p>“I don’t have a height fear!” Leo lies furiously, his dreads swinging loosely around his head and the white patches of vitiligo wrinkling under the intensity of his glare as he whips his head to look towards the silent members of their party for support. “Donnie, Mike - back me up on this - </p><p>“Oh, don’t drag <em>us </em>into it, the two of you were doing so well at <em>keeping your voice down</em> <em>and figuring this shit out calmly</em>,” Donnie spits back, crossing his arms and utterly refusing to pick a side. Both of them would be on his ass about ‘favoritism’ if he did, and at the moment Donnie’s favorite brother is his youngest. “Literally figure out what we’re doing so we can <em>leave</em>, we’re wasting enough time here as it is.” </p><p>“You tell em’, Dee,” Mikey mutters sarcastically, and Donnie reaches out to pinch his arm and snickers when he gets slapped away. Leo rolls his eyes at the two of them and turns to glare at Raph, who throws his hands up in return.</p><p>“Fine, whatever. I try n’ keep us safe and keep us outta danger and then I’m the bad guy. Why don’t <em> you </em> lead us, Leo? Clearly you feel like you’ve got everything figured out, so - </p><p>“I <em> never </em> said that, I just - listen, Raph. Listen, okay? You told us yesterday that we might have a chance to get out of this city and, no matter what, I <em> want </em> that. I want us to get out of here, together - I want <em> today </em> to be the last time we ever deal with these fucking Purple Dragon lunatics. No matter what it takes,” Leon takes a step forward, places a shoulder on his oldest and tallest brother’s shoulder. “Like Dad told us.”</p><p>Donnie’s breath catches painfully and he glances away from Raph’s conceding smile. “Whatever it takes,” he agrees eventually, rolling his eyes. “Fine, Leo, you literally <em> always </em> win when you bring up Dad.”</p><p>“What can I say? I’m a smooth talker; it’s my greatest asset...but I meant what I said, don’t get it twisted. If we have a chance of getting out of this city we’re fucking taking it,” Leo’s shoulders slump and a relieved expression curls his lips. </p><p>“True that,” Raph holds his hand up for a fist bump, and just like that the tenseness is gone with the breeze. Literally. </p><p>“<em>That </em> was dramatic,” Mikey says, now pushing Donnie’s fingers away adamantly as Donnie made it his new personal mission to pinch his youngest sibling. “I think we’re different from all of the other families... <em> this </em> is why Hamato family arguments take like ten seconds and then we all make up - oh my god <em> stop</em>, Dee - </p><p>Literal <em> fireworks </em> cut him off. More cheering. They all freeze, staring up at the source of their argument and their biggest problem at the moment. When nothing else happens or comes off the roof of the building to kill them Raph chances another harried look at his brothers. “Okay, I guess we really are doin’ this,” he takes the scrunchie off his wrist and ties his ponytail into a bun. “Mikey, pull your hood up, your hair’s a whole ass beacon out here.”</p><p>“Man, shut up, just admit you’re jealous of the ‘fro,” Mikey complains, pulling his hood up anyway. Leo and Donnie laugh and they all continue onwards, picking up the next building handhold after handhold. There’s scaffolding to hold onto around the side, so Donnie jerks with a thumb to make sure his brothers know where he’s going and slides along the ledge to the corner and the next side of the building, reaching upwards and grabbing a metal beam of scaffolding. It’s monkey bars for another few minutes until he pops upon an abandoned high-rise window cleaning machine. Donnie drops down into it silently, well aware that the Dragon’s now were in the next rooftop over. </p><p>He’s shrouded in early morning shadows, so they shouldn’t be able to see him, but he still crouches as his brothers join him. More out of instinct at this point, sneaking through the hidden areas of these gangs for the past three years. Out of sight, out of mind. </p><p>The machine they were all crouched on was adjacent to the building the Purple Dragon’s were quite literally living it up on, and as Donnie examines the rooftop’s party participants he jabs Leo in his side to get his attention. “They caught a whole family of strays,” Donnie whispers, and Leo nods in agreement. </p><p>Kendra’s as lovely as she always is, dyed lilac hair deftly french-braided down her back and makeup expertly applied - seriously, Donnie can see the winged eyeliner and purple glitter from here - and a laid back, arrogant smile crafting her plump lips. Her ‘chief’, Jeremy, and her step-brother, Jason, look just as undeserving to be at Kendra’s side, also like always. The people they’ve picked up along the way - though this isn’t all of them, maybe about a quarter - mill around eagerly and sneer at the poor helpless batch of strays that managed to get caught up in the Purple Dragon’s utter chaos.  </p><p>And when Donnie says ‘strays’ he doesn’t mean the orphaned and unloved dogs and cats without a home, either. Strays were the people new to Manhattan, people who didn’t call any of the three gangs in this city home. They were different from the drifters - which was what Donnie and his brothers were - people who knew of the gangs but weren’t a part of any of them and drifted between gang territory, put simply. Donnie could tell that they were strays and not drifters by their clothes, their dialects when they pleaded with Kendra (to no avail, who’s surprised) and the look of abject <em> terror </em> on their faces. Donnie clenches his fists and studies Kendra as she stops her loop around the strays - two women, an elderly man, and a teen. </p><p>“You guys aren’t from around here, are you?” Kendra simpers, drumming her long acrylic nails against her blue jeans distractedly. She's acting almost...bored. She’s walked the walk and played this game before, Donnie held no doubt at all. At twenty-two, Kendra’s been through the worst of it and strutted out with her head held high. Donnie wouldn’t hesitate to admire her if he didn’t hate her so fucking much. </p><p>“N-no, ma’am, we’re from Kansas,” One of the women stutters nervously, and Donnie shifts as she licks her lips, glancing nervously to her companions before speaking again. “We decided ta’ travel northwest, y-y’know, up what’s left a’ the 270 Interstate. S’a mess out there, earthquakes ruined everything. Maryland’s nothin’ more than a crater when we drove through - </p><p>“And you couldn’t get up to the city because of the water, I’m guessing,” Kendra observes, her eyes narrow. The same woman nods again, glancing this time at the female next to her. The other woman nods minutely and reaches out to grasp her hand, rubbing a thumb comfortingly over the top.</p><p>“...We found a boat and drove through,” she admits, looking sheepishly back down at the rooftop concrete pavement before hastily continuing. “An’ we jus’ ran outta gas and were just lookin’ for some in these buildin’s, scout’s honor! We didn’t mean to trespass! Me n’ my girlfriend were just lookin’ for gas - we’re tryna get to Toronto, see, and it’s jus’ me n’ my girlfriend n’ - our daughter, Becca - and Liz’s Dad - b-but we didn’t mean no harm, I swear!” she rambles, growing increasingly more desperate, but Kendra holds a hand up and she falls silent.</p><p>“What’s your name, love?” Kendra asks the woman gently, paying no mind to the word storm from before. </p><p>“Annalise,” she manages quietly, so quiet Donnie has to strain himself to hear, and Kendra nods like she’d predicted that.</p><p>“Well, Annalise, I’m afraid we’ve run into a little issue,” Kendra sighs sadly, though Donnie recognizes the manic gleam in her eyes and cringes. Leo sucks in his breath from next to him and Donnie can hear Mikey whisper something frantically to Raph from further along in their hiding place. “It’s...listen, you all seem like really, <em> really </em> nice people. Really. So it’s going to hurt when I tell you this, but...Canada’s gone. It was one of the first places hit, yeah? There’s really nothing left.”</p><p>Annalise opens her mouth, but Kendra continues before she can get a word out. She’s still simpering, false sympathy oozing from every pore as she starts another loop around the family. “Such a shame. But! Enough about that, really. You’ve got no place to go, you’re in my mercy...I could easily kill you all and be done with it,” she pauses, letting that sink in. “But I won’t. Like I said before...you all seem like such nice people. There’s so few of that left in the world. So...since y’all are so nice...I’m offering you with a simple proposal - join us.”</p><p>“J-<em>Join </em> you?”</p><p>“Join me,” Kendra repeats, smiling now as she stops back in front of Annalise and her family. “We’re always taking in new recruits, you know? Anyone who can earn their keep, anyone not <em> braindead </em> like that fucking loser,” she seethes, sending an anything but subtle look over to Jason. “You, your girlfriend, your daughter. We’ll take you in. Free of charge.” </p><p>“What? What about - what about my father?” Annalise’s girlfriend - Liz? - asks slowly, blinking up at Kendra with absolute horror etched into her face. “You said me, Annalise, and Becca - </p><p>“I know what I said,” Kendra scoffs, gesturing expansively at everything - the rooftop they were standing on, the water far below, the state of the goddamn world, most likely. “Look at where we are, babe. Look who I’ve become - look who<em> we’ve </em> become.” The false sympathy is back, mixed in with an even faker sense of understanding. “Do you really think your father can jump between these buildings, can help us loot places or fight off people who aren’t quite as appreciative as I am? It’s a tough world out there, Liz, and I’m sorry, I really, really am, but he’s useless to me.”</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” Liz says, voice shaking. The old man’s eyes are wide, trained on Kendra silently like he couldn’t believe a damn word that came out of her mouth. “What happens if we refuse?”</p><p>“We kill you anyway,” Kendra shrugs, not even bothering to hide her smirk anymore, and as if on cue one of Kendra’s goons cocks their gun threateningly. “It’s not personal. We’re just trying to survive, same as anyone else. And we can’t do that with dead weight.”</p><p>“We’ll do it!” Annalise shouts, long curly hair sweeping down her shoulders as she snaps her head back to stare Kendra dead in the eye with a determined expression. “We’ll do it, we’ll join you.” What she says next sends a chill down Donnie’s spine. “We’ll do <em> whatever it takes</em>.” </p><p>“I’m glad to hear it,” Kendra smiles, utterly delighted as a choked scream of terror comes from Liz. “Elijah, Oliver - </p><p>Two men step forward from the crowd towards the old men, who immediately stands up and tries to get to the roof access door but the rest of Kendra’s gang pull different varieties of weapons from whatever holster they had on them, raising them threateningly and stopping him in his tracks. The old man spins, looks desperately down at his family. “I don’ wanna die like this,” he shouts, voice frail and wobbly as the crowd moves in. “Please - please, Annalise, there’s gotta be another way -</p><p>“<em>Grandpa! </em> ” Becca screams, trying to get to her feet, but Annalise grabs her wrist and pulls her daughter to her chest. “Mom - <em> Mom</em>, let go of me, you can’t -</p><p>The two beefy-looking men grab the elderly man and start frog-marching him towards the edge of the building. Donnie feels Leo grab his hand and dig his nails into the skin - but he can’t feel it, can’t <em> focus </em> on it - he can only hear the excruciating screams of terror from Liz and the wretched sobbing from her daughter as they get closer and closer and - </p><p>“Mikey, Mikey don’t you fucking look,” Donnie manages to catch from Raph as they reach the end of the walking space and hesitate for only half a beat before pushing him forward, off the rooftop’s ledge. Donnie, despite the horror he felt churning in his stomach, cranes his neck down and watches the man fall. The splash he can faintly hear far below when he hits does nothing to relieve the nauseous feeling in his gut - his youngest was right. There was no way in hell he could have survived that. </p><p>The sobs from Liz and Becca can’t drown out Kendra’s next words to Annalise, who’s looking up at her with silent tears pouring down her own face. “You did the right thing, Annalise,” she praises gently. “Welcome to the family.”</p><p>The Purple Dragons cheer.</p><p>-</p><p>They manage to get a couple buildings away before Mikey breaks down in tears. His brothers immediately take their places next to him as violent sobs wrack his entire body and pour down his face like an unending river, and it’s <em> ugly </em> crying with snot <em> everywhere </em> and Donnie can’t pull out tissue fast enough. He feels helpless, he knows his twin and his oldest feels helpless - and why wouldn’t they? They just watched someone <em> die.</em></p><p>Someone innocent, someone so removed from the entire equation they were barely a blip on the grid. Some stray that had nothing to do with any of the shit that went down in this awful city - and Kendra, who’d watched it all without a drop of remorse - and the <em> look </em> in Annalise’s eyes, what she’d said <em> echoed </em> his own family - Donnie selfishly wonders if the four of <em> them </em> had been on that roof instead, at Kendra’s feet - would <em> Raph</em>, would <em> Leo </em> - <em> would they </em> -</p><p>His own eyes well up with tears and he furiously blinks them away. He barely feels Leo wrap his arm around him and pull him into his side, his dreads tickling Donnie’s nose - he buries his face into the fabric of Leo’s sweatshirt, taking deep breaths and counting up to one-hundred in different languages. Barely eight in the morning and he’d already been privy to a public execution. How fucking fantastic. </p><p>“We should have gone around,” Leo admits warbly, miserably, and Raph laughs, own voice choked up with tears. Mikey sobs again, mumbles something about hating this world and what were they even fighting for at this point if this is what humanity’s come too? And more murmured reassurances from Raph - god, Donnie was <em> exhausted</em>. “They’ve got a boat,” Leo manages after a long while. “Without gas, sure, but it’s an escape…” his heart isn’t in it, and he’s probably come to the conclusion that the Dragons would be all over it anyway. “I see the Dragons don’t have any problem with execution now, how fun,” his weak attempt at a joke falls flat.</p><p>“Must’ve learned a few things from Casey,” Raph returns with a dull voice. “Maybe they’re friends now, the maniacs.”</p><p>“Fucking <em> psychopaths</em>,” Leo agrees. “Deluded ass evil bitches.”</p><p>“And we’re heading straight towards another one,” Donnie reminds them, pulling away from Leon and scrubbing blearily at the wetness building in his eyes. “Someone we <em> can’t </em> trust. We can’t believe a <em> single </em>goddamn word that comes at face value. We all know how Sunita feels about killing people who’ve wronged her -</p><p>“Then she won't be letting us go out of the goodness in her heart,” Leon nods, clearly unsurprised. “So...she’s using us. Why? What does she want?”</p><p>Donnie shakes his head. “Haven’t figured that part out yet. Haven’t even figured out if she’s lying to us about the whole ‘escape’ bit yet. For all we know she’s just hooking us in. We need a backup plan for when shit goes South in there, though -.”</p><p>“She’s an hour and a half away,” Raph stands, wiping the loose gravel off his pants. “Two hours at most. I’m sure we can figure something out on the road, yeah? C’mon, Mike. I know you’re sad, believe me, we all are. But we’ve gotta do this now, okay? We can’t dwell on these things for too long, you know that.”</p><p>“...” Mikey stands slowly, and when he pulls the top of his hoodie down Donnie’s surprised to see the look of complete <em> fury </em> in his eyes. “If Sunita’s lying…” A pause. “If she’s lying about getting out of this fucking city I’ll <em> rip her goddamn throat out</em>.”</p><p>He starts off across the rooftop in the direction of Sunita’s hideout, clearly intending on going through with his threat. Donnie, exchanging worried glances with his older and younger brothers alike, hesitates for only a moment before hurrying after him.</p><p>The next hour and a half are mostly a blur to Donnie - he’s primarily focused on picking his way through the city, hiding from the remaining Dragon patrols as they make their way through their terf for their daily sweep - the usual. He also thinks about the old man and his family, remembers the expression on his face as his own daughter-in-law betrays him and figuratively throws him to the wolves. To the <em> sharks </em> would be a more accurate and realistic statement, and that realization makes Donnie shiver.</p><p>He wonders how Annalise and Liz’s relationship will fair - if Liz will eventually understand that Annalise did it for the good of all of them - one for all and not all for one. He wonders if Liz will ever love her girlfriend again for inadvertently killing her father. If Becca would ever look her in the eyes without flinching.</p><p>Donnie realizes he’s torturing himself with thoughts like that and stops, focuses again on following his family across the city. He sees Mikey’s hunched posture as he climbs and knows he’s not faring any better. Mikey’s always been most disturbed by trivial shit like horror movies - and it’s gotten worse since the end of the world was thrust upon them unexpectedly. He’s got the biggest heart. It was awful to see the remnants of the Mikey he used to know disappear in front of his own eyes.</p><p>Donnie resolutely promises himself that he’d get them out of this city. For Leo, who’s easy quips were running their last track. For Raph, who’s too tired to be dealing with this shit and would hit his dead end if they kept running him ragged like they did. For Mikey, who for all of his naïve humor and childlike innocence - was far past the point of no return himself. For Splinter, who died before he could get the chance to escape and had left that legacy to his sons. He'd do it for them. </p><p>Whatever it takes. <em> Whatever </em>it takes.</p><p>They reach Sunita’s terf at a quarter past ten, complete with a twenty minute 'brunch' and water break. Donnie's got a sheen of sweat covering the nape of his neck, forehead, his upper lip - god, he feels and probably looks like a complete wreck, but they’re all still alive and at their destination, so he’s not complaining. They've made it in record time too, which was brilliant. Sunita’s ‘lair’ is as beaconing and open as it always is - the tallest hotel in Upper Manhattan, set with guards in every adjoining building. “I don’t wanna do this,” Donnie mutters under his breath as he studies where they've gotta go next, and isn’t surprised when he catches a muttered ‘same’ from his twin. Their ‘Plan B’ seemed pathetic considering how many fucking people Sunita had under her rule. </p><p>“C’mon, we’re the Hamatos. We’ve got this!” Raph cheers optimistically, though how he manages it Donnie has no idea. “We’ve <em> got </em>this,” he repeats, this one more to himself, and Donnie really, really hopes that they do. They climb onto one of the adjacent buildings to Sunita’s building, holding their hands up and making sure their weapons were visible when Sunita’s hive-mind point guns at their chest. “Hey, Vinny,” Raph greets, quickly recognizing one of the people currently pointing guns at them - trying for an encouraging smile. “Long time no see. Sunita sent for us.”</p><p>Vinny considers them and motions to the other goons to lower their guns. “Raphael,” he replies, his voice raspy as all hell - where’d he even manage to find cigarettes in the fucking apocalypse is <em> beyond </em> Donnie, honestly - and smiles back cruelly, lifting his sunglasses so he could get a better look at the four of them. “Always a treat to see your friendly faces around here. Surprised y’all are still alive with all that’s been going on, didn’t you hear that the Foot and Dragons teamed up?” </p><p>Oh, <em> that </em> one hit hard. “They did <em> what </em>now?” Leo replies weakly, his fingers flexing against the fabric of Mikey’s army hoodie and clenching his shoulder so hard his knuckles turn white as he struggles with this new information. “You’ve gotta be kidding me - </p><p>“Not all of em’ are on board with it, an’ after all the shit that’s happened in the past I don’t blame em’,” Vinny shrugs despondently, turning and waving at the hole in Sunita’s skyscraper. The guards in that building wave back, and slowly start fixing a piece of sturdy wood between the two buildings; a bridge to get across. Vinny gives them all an even look, gray eyebrows furrowed. “Y’all seriously didn’t know?”</p><p>“I <em>thought </em>the Dragons were acting more like the Foot lately, but...god, I didn’t see them actually <em>teaming</em> <em>up</em>,” Raph replies conversationally as the wood hits home on the opposite building and they can finally cross. Mikey and Leo go first, followed by Donnie and Vinny, and then lastly Raph. Donnie takes one slow step across at a time, pointedly ignoring the slight wobbling of the wood and the sloshing of the water thirty stories down, and exhales as soon as he touches down safely in Sunita’s building. They truly were in the hive’s nest, now. </p><p>Vinny and Raph are still going at it like old war buddies, catching up on all the latest drama in the apocalypse - and the rest of them follow the older man as he leads them across the hotel café towards the stairs. Donnie recognizes several of the people milling around the room - teens, young adults, people he'd teamed up with in the past to do Sunita's bidding - and for a second wishes Raph accepted Sunita’s invitation into this gang. Maybe Sunita was just as fucked in the head as Kendra and Casey, but in the past three years Donnie and his brothers have never truly <em> belonged </em> in a place like these people had. Was he really stupid for wanting something like that?</p><p>He shakes his head, breaking out of his self-indulgent stupor. Maybe they’d never belonged anywhere, but at least they've always had each other. Some people weren’t lucky enough to even have that. Donnie thinks of the old man again and winces, trying to shut his brain down at <em> least </em>until they got up to Sunita’s penthouse. Vinny leads them up the stairs, flight after flight after flight, exhaling noisily as his age hinders his ascent, and again Donnie wonders what Sunita will do to Vinny when she figures his age becomes more of a hassle than an asset. Maybe she’ll kill him. Or maybe she’ll allow him to still guard like he was earlier, and if he accidently fell off the wood beam while crossing she’d just shrug it off and move on - </p><p>Donnie pinches the inside of his wrist. What part of <em> not </em> thinking did his brain not understand?</p><p>Huffing and puffing, Vinny reaches the floor where Sunita slept, nodding at the two guards and gesturing at the four of them to knock. Donnie catches Leo glancing out one of the many windows and how <em> high up </em>they are as Raph knocks briskly at the door before stepping back a respectable distance, shifting his feet almost nervously. The quiet ‘come in’ comes from inside and Vinny nods at them encouragingly before turning and disappearing back down the stairwell. Raph sighs, looking around at his younger brothers before steeling himself and grasping the brass handle with a palm, pushing it down and forward. </p><p>Donnie follows his family in, barely paying any mind to the door clicking shut behind him. He’s been in this room before, <em>eons</em> ago, but it looked so different then. Sunita’s got the entire place to herself, ceiling-to-floor windows all the way around so she can see everything, including her enemies as if they would ever breach the Queen’s castle. Her kitchen’s stocked with the best rations there were, and she’s got her own personal fucking <em> slave </em> to do her everyday bidding - christ. Compared to the way Donnie and his family have been living, barely surviving off of day to day shit that they could barely find...Sunita had it made. More than Kendra or even Casey.</p><p>A fresh batch of hatred blooms in his stomach. Good, he’d been wondering where that went. </p><p>Sunita’s certainly not dressed like it was the end of the world, either. She’s in a lime and pink bikini top with ties around the back and a pair of booty shorts, clearly unprepared for guests. Her short black hair’s grown since the last time Donnie’s saw her - and really, it looks fantastic. She looks great. Untouched by society crumbling. Donnie really wants to punch her. “It’s so great to see you guys again!” Sunita smiles sweetly, sits down in one of her plush couches, and folds her right leg over her left, leaning against a couch pillow and raising her glass in greeting. She gestures towards the other unoccupied couches. “Care to join me?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>shit gets so real next chapter HELP ME GOING FULL OUT IN THIS AU YEAHHHHHHHH</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. out of the woods</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Donnie doesn’t buy the ‘nice-girl’ act for a single minute. Neither do his brothers, by the way they’re all tensed and seconds away from pulling their weapons on her. None of them budge to sit down where Sunita’s graciously invited them too - and she raises her eyebrows, floored.</p><p>“We aren’t here to catch up, Sunita,” Raph crosses his arms, staring her down. “We’re here to get out of the city.”</p><p>“D’you know how <em> fucked </em> it is out there?” Leo says, gesturing vaguely in the direction they’d come. “How they don’t give a shit about killing people - the Dragons <em> and </em> the Foot, apparently - old or young, people who aren’t <em> useful </em> enough for them anymore? Doesn’t that <em> boggle </em> your mind, Sunita, that you’re ruling next to these people? And still you stay out of it all, even though you probably have the numbers to wipe them both out -</p><p>“Not like living under you would be any better, don’t get us wrong,” Mikey states bluntly. “But at least you have the common courtesy to kill people in <em> private </em> then hold public executions. Couldn’t tarnish your <em> perfect </em> reputation, right?”</p><p>“It’s why we’re here, again - you said we could get out. We don’t want a part of it - of <em> any </em>of it anymore. We’re leaving,” Donnie finishes, pulling his staff from the holster around his shoulders and plinking it to the carpet. An anything but subtle threat. “With your help or without it.” </p><p>Sunita stares at them for a beat longer, obviously taken aback - and Donnie doesn’t blame her, either, they’ve never been so upfront with her in all their years of knowing each other. She uncrosses her legs, sitting forward on the couch. The friendly expression on her face disappears in front of their very eyes and she looks like the Sunita they’d known was under there all along - the scheming gang leader with tricks up every sleeve. “Formalities never were your thing,” she laughs, standing. “Put that away, Donnie, I’m not gonna chop your head off for disagreeing with how I run things around here,” her eyes narrow at Donnie and the weapon he held firmly in his hands.</p><p><em> No, maybe not, but you’ll have the guards outside your luxurious penthouse do it for you and I’m not letting you lay a single hand on any of my brothers</em>, he thinks furiously, narrowing his eyes right back. Sunita sighs tiredly, turning and walking over to one of the glass doors opposite the door they’d come in from. She opens it, stepping out on the grand balcony and beckoning for them to follow. “I could kill you,” she muses slowly, like she was actually considering it. “I really could. But I won’t. You’re good people, and there’s so few good people left in the world. Besides the fact that we’ve known each other for so long...and that I need you, I’ll let your comments slide. For now,” she remarks cheerily, taking a sip from her glass. Lemonade, Donnie realizes. </p><p>“You sound <em> exactly </em> like Kendra,” Leo retorts, looking over the balcony railing and whistling under his breath at the ninety story drop. “She’s Casey’s splitting image right now, did you know? The Foot and the Purple Dragons teamed up.”</p><p>“Of course I know,” Sunita laughs. “Together they’d have a real good chance of defeating me, and <em> then </em> where would we be?”</p><p>Nobody answers her, watching her lean against the railing and take in the view. If Donnie squinted he could just barely make out the building in Times Square where Leo killed the two men the night before and has to repress a shudder despite everything he’s seen the past three years. “Have I ever told you four about April?” Sunita asks suddenly, and doesn’t wait for a confirmation or denial before elaborating anyway. “We met in our senior year of high school. I was drawn to her no-shit attitude and - god, just hearing you all talk like that really reminded me of how <em> she </em> used to talk. She would have really liked you all, and...probably would have agreed with you about this, too,” she laughs again, though this laugh sounds painful.</p><p>Donnie braces himself, because he will <em> not </em> feel sympathy for her. “What happened to her?” Raph asks, viciously poking the hornet’s nest.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Sunita answers honestly, turning to face them. “I don’t know if she’s still in the city or made it out or with the Foot or the Dragons or <em> died </em> when the tsunami hit or <em> anything </em> - and why the <em> fuck </em> she never tried to even come and find me. If she was here she could’ve run this gang, too,” she sweeps her long dark hair over her shoulders, looking at the four of them with a disdainful expression. A bitter expression. “Doesn’t matter now, though. She’s not here. She never <em> was </em> here. But I am. And I have a gang to run. No one will ever get in the way of that, you hear me? Not the Foot, not the Purple Dragons, and not you four, either.”</p><p>“We don’t want to get in the way of anything,” Donnie says truthfully, because he <em> didn’t </em> - he didn’t want Leo or Raph or Mikey or even <em> himself </em> in a war against Sunita and her people - especially since he knew most of them already. “We don’t agree with the executions or the lavish living while we all suffer, believe me. But we’re tired of New York. We just want to get out.”</p><p>Sunita levels Donnie with an even look. “Do you even know where you’d go? The world is in ruins, Donnie.”</p><p>Donnie’s got an answer for that one. “Anywhere but here,” he shrugs. “Personally I’m real tired of the constant water. Get me as far away from the hurricanes and tsunamis and <em> whatever the fuck else </em> and I’ll worship the ground you walk on.” Figuratively, of course. Sunita didn’t deserve his worship. </p><p>Sunita smiles thinly, smacking her plump lips together silently. “I’m afraid that I can’t let you go quite yet, but I’ve got a proposition for you. Be it a...<em> business deal </em> between partners, if you will.”</p><p>“Depends on its requirements,” Mikey shoots back, picking at his nails. “We’re not infiltrating the Foot or the Dragons. D’you know what we had to do just to <em> get </em> here?” </p><p>“Oh, no, you’ll be going in the opposite direction,” Sunita wags her hand, dissolving that thought. “In fact I’d like to think it’s something we’ve got to hold over both their heads. Something I truly hope they don’t know about, something I feel like we could all use to our advantage.”</p><p>Donnie leans forward, hook pulled and caught. Interest piqued, he exchanges a glance with his twin - whose eyebrows are raised so high they almost disappear into his dreads - before looking towards Sunita again. “We’re listening,” he says slowly.</p><p>Sunita nods at him before walking past them, back inside the building. Through the glass they can see she’s grabbed a piece of paper off her crowded kitchen table, and when she returns and hands it to Raph Donnie can see it’s a map. A large red ‘X’ is marked on an entire quadrant of said map, taking up multiple streets in Upper Manhattan. Sunita points a dark, slender finger to the ‘X’. “My friend lives here,” she says simply.</p><p>“Where?” Mikey pushes Donnie away so he can get to Raph’s unoccupied side and see the map. Donnie huffs. <em> Rude</em>. “Girl - you’re telling me they live in all these buildings -</p><p>“He lives in <em> one </em> of them,” Sunita corrects, rolling her eyes. </p><p>“...but you don’t know which one?” Leo leaps onto that immediately, eyes narrow and disbelieving. “So he’s not really a<em> friend, </em>is he? Friends usually know where friends live.”</p><p>Sunita looks sheepish for a split second before smoothing out her features. “No, I don’t know exactly where he lives. And we aren’t really...<em>f</em><em>riends</em>, either. But I’ve found the general location,” she taps the quadrant, “...and I want you four to make nice with this man on my behalf. He’s a chemist, an engineer, a technician - <em> everything </em> I need<em>. </em> He’s got a warehouse down here.” Sunita drags her finger a bit farther down, maybe a street below the quadrant marked. “When we went down to scope him out I caught sight of some of his blueprints. Things <em> you </em> would like,” Donnie can feel her sharp eyes on him and nearly cringes.</p><p>“Why can’t you do it?” Mikey’s not being a dick as he asks, just genuinely sounds confused. “I mean...you’re a gang leader. Wouldn’t he want to come out for you - </p><p>“I <em> tried</em>,” Sunita cuts him off impatiently. “But he seems to be avoiding all gang activity. Unfortunately that includes me. But you four are drifters. None of you have gang emblems - hell, you could even pass as strays if you really wanted to. If, and I mean <em> if </em> you managed to convince him that my people and I aren’t as bad as Kendra or Casey or their gangs,” she pauses, most likely remembering that the four men with her on the balcony thought that she was <em> just </em> as bad as the people she mentioned - maybe even worse in some regards, “<em>Hypothetically </em> speaking, with his technology I could wipe both the Foot and the Dragons out for good. Every single last one of them,” Sunita finishes, a resolute note in her sentence. <em> And then it would be just me</em>, she doesn’t say, but they get the picture anyway.</p><p>There’s a dead and heavy silence. Donnie thinks of Annalise and her family and knows he’s playing a very serious and dangerous game. “What if he’s prepared for this?” Raph asks eventually. </p><p>“Yeah,” Leo points at Raph, inspired. “You’re just sending us as bait. Poking the nest to see what happens. We have no idea what we’re walking into - and if this guy is more ‘tech-savvy’ than even Donnie,” Leo uses air quotes as he speaks, something Donnie really didn’t need but appreciated all the same, “We could <em> die</em>.”</p><p>“<em>Obviously </em> you could die,” Sunita snaps, withdrawing her hand from the map and crossing her arms. “Somehow I’m convinced this is your very first day in the goddamn apocalypse, Leo. Of <em> course </em> there’s risks involved. But you’re the only four who can do this, and I <em> swear</em>, if you get this guy on my side I will stop at nothing to get you four out of the city. I swear it on my <em> life</em>,” she smiles, like she’d already won them over. Donnie didn’t like that, but hell, when did he ever like anything Sunita did?</p><p>Raph sighs, running his free hand through his dark mop of hair. “We need to talk about this. In <em> private</em>,” he makes it clear. “Jus’ the four of us.”</p><p>“Be my guest,” Sunita shrugs. “I’ll go inside and you can talk this out. I’ll be in the kitchen if you have any more questions,” she starts to walk towards the door to go back inside, but Donnie’s first question to her that day stops her in her tracks.</p><p>“Sunita,” Donnie glances back towards the map still clutched in Raph’s large hand before returning his gaze towards the gang leader, who’s now looking at him expectantly. “Does this guy have a name?”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot.” Sunita laughs, like she’d been stupid to forget such a critical thing. “Baron Draxum. His name is Baron Draxum.”</p><p>-</p><p>“<em>Baron Draxum</em>?” Leo hisses as soon as the door is shut and there’s a glass wall between them and Sunita. “Who the hell names their kid Baron Draxum - </p><p>“Oh my <em> God</em>, Leo, this is <em> so </em> not the time,” Donnie sighs. Raph’s got his head in his hands, making wordless noises of panic. Mikey’s rubbing his shoulders, trying to relieve some of that anxiety. “Fuck.”</p><p>“<em>Fuck </em> is right,” Leo laughs, pitchy and airy and nervous. “Do you know what this means? Sunita just put us in charge of the future of the gangs in this city! This Draxum guy could have anything if he’s as smart as Sunita says he is - grenades, guns, fuck, maybe even whole ass <em> bombs </em> that could destroy any of these buildings - </p><p>“What are we going to <em> do</em>,” Raph groans, slowly lifting his head from his hands. “If Sunita’s given all those weapons -</p><p>“But wouldn’t it be better with Sunita in charge then Casey and Kendra?” Mikey speaks up. “Again, not defending Sunita, but we trust her maybe a point of a decimal more than those two, right?”</p><p>“But do we <em> really </em> want her running the city?” Raph bottom lines, and Mikey shrugs despondently. Donnie drops down into one of the balcony chairs, mind running miles in his head.</p><p>“I think we should do it,” Leo says after a couple moments silence, acknowledging the startled looks from his three brothers with raised hands. “Listen, I don’t like Sunita with weapons any more than you guys but <em> think </em> about it! We’d finally get our escape from the city - </p><p>“And all those innocent people like Annalise and her family would be <em> dead</em>, Leo,” Donnie snaps. “I don’t care for the Foot <em> or </em> the Dragons but there’s still good people left in this city. I don’t wanna be responsible for their deaths.”</p><p>“You seem to be flip-flopping on morals,” Leo accuses, pointing a callused finger at his twin. “First you’re chewing Sunita out for not taking the other gangs out herself <em> because </em> of the public executions and <em> because </em> she’s got the most people under her rule but as soon as we get the <em> one </em> golden opportunity to get out of this shitty city and all our shitty problems suddenly you’re the one fucking backing out - </p><p>“So you’re fine with hundreds of people dying because of us, is that what you’re saying?” </p><p>“They’re <em> gang members </em> who would do the same shit to us in a heartbeat if our roles were reversed -</p><p>“That doesn’t make it okay, Leo!” Donnie shouts, dropping the hand from it’s curled position against his temple and glaring up at him. “That doesn’t make us <em> any </em> better than they are!” </p><p>“Yeah, well, I don’t <em> give </em> a shit about being better than they are, okay? All I care about is you, and Mikey, and Raph, and our one way ticket out of this fucking place. Nothing else. Call me a psychopath or a fucking lunatic or someone with no morality left, I don’t care. But I think we should take it,” Leo snaps, now jabbing his finger into Donnie’s face. “I don’t give a shit about anything else in the world besides you three, and if Sunita’s the next one running this city I - !” he pauses, looking towards Mikey and Raph, who are both watching him with conflicted expressions. “As long as we’re together and out of this city, I’ll do whatever it takes.”</p><p>There it is again. <em> Whatever it takes</em>. It seemed to be a recurring sentence with them. Donnie exhales, giving up on their fight completely and dropping his head into his own (suddenly) shaking hands. The situation in all of its entirety seemed to finally be catching up with him. “I’m so tired of all of this, I - Leo, <em> f-fuck </em>…”</p><p>“Hey, hey, ‘Tello, shh, it’s okay,” Leo immediately loses all of the anger in his composure and drops to the chair next to his twin, rubbing his back. “Fuck, it’s okay, I’m sorry, breathe with me here - </p><p>“I’m <em> scared</em>,” Donnie murmurs, almost too quietly to be overheard, but he knows Leo hears it by the way the hand stills on his back for a split second. Seconds later it starts again, around and around in circles, joined by Leo’s head on his shoulder. Donnie shifts so Leon didn’t strain his neck, breathing in and out slowly so it matched his brother’s breathing. “God, Leo, I -</p><p>“It’s okay to be scared, Dee,” Leo whispers. “You don’t have to apologize for being a good person and caring about people, either, so don’t you even try.”</p><p>Donnie laughs, a weird, warbly noise that makes Leon laugh too. “I love you,” he says, then raises his voice so their other brothers could hear too. “I love you guys,” he says to Mikey and Raph, and his voice cracks but none of them call him out on it.</p><p>“Love you too, Donnie,” he can hear the smile in Mikey’s voice. Raph echoes him, and so does Leo, and Donnie takes another awkward try at breathing and coughs, eyes swimming and he knows he has to be an adult about the whole situation but all he wants to do is curl up and cry. Finally he pulls away, blinking furiously at Sunita’s balcony table and just - <em> everything</em>, really, he’s just <em> tired </em> and -</p><p>“I just want to get out of here,” he confesses quietly to Leo, who’s still watching him anxiously. “I don’t know how long I can stand to be in this city any longer, Leo, I’m just so <em> exhausted</em>, I wish I had better words for it but I’m just so tired of fighting and -</p><p>“We can get out of here,” Leo urges quietly, reaching for Mikey and gripping his brothers’ smaller hand in his own. Mikey reaches for Donnie and so does Raph, and they’re all around him, unwavering pillars of strength that the water could crash into for all eternity but would never fall. “We <em> can </em>and we will, Donnie.”</p><p>“Yeah, maybe we should live in New Zealand? We can get a record player and live in Auckland, and go visit an actual beach whenever we want, just the four of us and a big ass house, and you can have your own lab again like we had in the apartment and Raph could have his own little place in the garage where he could work out and, like, I’d have the kitchen and Leo could just fuck off an’ do whatever - </p><p>“<em>Hey</em>,” Leo complains, and they all collectively laugh. Donnie wipes away tears - fuck, he had <em> no </em> idea he was crying, when the hell did <em> that </em> happen - so Mikey keeps talking, already lost in his own little paradise, and it sounds so palpable and <em> real </em> and - </p><p>“We’d make our own little garden and a pool and we’d get a place with a generator an’ shit so we’d have <em> electricity </em> and hot water and maybe television? And maybe even a pet! And maybe there would already be people there so we could make new friends! Like - <em> actual </em> friends and not gang peeps - god, it’d be so cool! Just us with no responsibilities and fantastic mental health - </p><p>“You’re such a kid,” Donnie tugs a curl fondly and Mikey pouts, slapping his hand away. “That’s what I want, though. I - Leo, <em> I want it</em>,” he says, gesturing to Mikey, and Leo nods furiously like he gets it. </p><p>“We have to go through with it, then,” Raph says quietly. “We’ll have to take Sunita’s deal. We can’t get out of here without outside help.”</p><p>“I don’t trust her or Draxum or <em> anyone</em>, that’s the problem,” Leo sighs, pulling his dreads back in a loose ponytail. “Odds are stacked up against us.”</p><p>“They always are,” Mikey reminds him, and Leo shrugs, finding no fault with that argument. “Okay, listen. No, listen, guys,” Mikey leans forward even though Sunita couldn’t possibly hear them through the glass and wasn’t even looking in their direction. “We take the deal. We go find Draxum. But what if <em> he </em> helps us escape instead of Sunita?”</p><p>“..What?” </p><p>“The guy is hella smart, right? He’s gotta have, like, <em> something </em> to help us get out.”</p><p>“And what if he’s a complete dick that’ll shoot first and ask questions after we’re dead? What if he won’t even hear us out? I hate to admit it, but we know Sunita a<em> lot</em> better than we know this guy,” Leo pulls a knee to his chest, resting his cheek against it. “We’re putting a lot of trust into someone we don’t even know if we go that route, Mike.”</p><p>“But Donnie’s right, if we just give Draxum over to Sunita who knows what she’ll do,” Mikey folds his arms, sighing. “No good outcomes that route, either. I feel like we should just improvise.”</p><p>“Improvising isn’t a plan, Mike,” Raph chuckles, ruffling his hair. “You all make good points, though. ‘Kay, here’s what we’ll do - we’ll take Sunita’s plan and head down to Draxum’s warehouse tonight. See if we can find the guy in the first place. Then - <em> dependin’ </em> on if he’s willin’ to listen to us or not - we’ll explain that all we wanna do is get out. <em> If </em> he can help us that’s great and we can jus’ skip town without Sunita being ever the wiser. If he can’t, then...we’ll just convince him that Sunita isn’t as bad as we all secretly think she is and hopefully <em> she </em> can help us when we turn him over.” </p><p>“That’s a lot of ‘if’s’,” Donnie says, but realizes ultimately that’s the best he’s going to get. “Okay, I feel a lot better about this plan then I did maybe three minutes ago, so. Let’s just accept the deal and get out of here. I’m personally hoping on the former so we never have to step foot in this building ever again. Plus we won’t be partially responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people.” </p><p>“You an’ me both,'' Leo sighs, standing and reaching for Donnie’s hand. Donnie lets himself be pulled up, turning so Raph could stuff the map into his backpack. Donnie holds onto his staff, oddly feeling like he’d need to use it soon. He glances once more back the way they’d come, looking across Foot and Dragon territory and then down to Sunita’s terf, and can make out Vinny and the rest of the guards in the next building over, guns pulled proudly to their chests.</p><p>Donnie wonders if they even know what they’re fighting or defending for at this point. Turning to follow his family back inside, he’s glad he won’t live his life trying to figure out the same question himself. </p><p>-</p><p>“You guys came to a decision, I’m guessing?” Sunita’s all ears as they enter, mixing herself a cocktail. It’s weird to see, because even though she’s the legal age to drink - either twenty-two or twenty-three, Donnie doesn’t remember exactly when her birthday is - she still gave off the impression of being much younger. Maybe in another world they could have actually been friends. It’s baffling to think about, so Donnie moves on and answers her question.</p><p>“Yeah, we’ll take the deal,” Donnie says simply, watching her mix the alcohol. “Only if you <em> promise </em> to help us escape the city if we turn Draxum over to you.” Truthfully Donnie was banking on Draxum being their escape route, but they still needed a back-up plan and unfortunately, Sunita was the only one who could still provide it. </p><p>“Done,” Sunita agrees, none the wiser, and Donnie nods, satisfied for now. “You still have the map, yeah? You’ll be leaving my territory, y’know. No gangs up there at all.”</p><p><em> Good riddance</em>, Donnie wants to tell her. “We know,” he says instead. “We’ll be in touch.” <em> Or not</em>. He really, really hopes not.</p><p>“Do you need anything before you go? Refills on water, snacks…” she goes off into a tangent, and never being people to turn down free supplies, his brothers don’t hesitate to oblige. Donnie wonders again why Sunita’s still being so nice to them when they’ve all called her out collectively earlier, but writes it off as her literally needing them to get Draxum. Of course she’s going to be nice, her entire future as a gang leader depends on this mission.</p><p>Donnie swallows down some almonds, refills his water, and goes to the bathroom before regrouping with his family. Sunita squints at him when he returns, and for a beat Donnie wonders if she <em> knew </em> that they were planning on double-crossing her. Then she looks away, wishing Raph good luck with that fake smile she was so excellent at, and Donnie exhales in relief. She couldn’t know. She <em> couldn’t</em>.</p><p>With stiff goodbyes, they finally leave Sunita’s penthouse, going down the stairs with about as much excitement and gusto as a dead cat. No one had any idea of what they were walking into, literally all of their information coming from the colossal bitch they were still trekking across the city for. Donnie sighs, slipping his staff into the holster around his neck as they descend back down. There’s a lot more people in the cafe as they enter from the stairs, and as Donnie steps in he stumbles back into Raph as a giggling child runs through the room, chased by a frantic, huffing and puffing -</p><p>“Oh lord - Alazandra, <em> calm down </em> - oh, hey guys!” Todd yelps, picking up speed and grabbing the little girl around the waist, hoisting her up onto a shoulder. He grins, tickling the kid and turning to look at Donnie and his family. </p><p>“Todd!” Mikey beams, and even Donnie can’t suppress a smile as he’s face-to-face with the happiest person in the apocalypse. Todd was an older white man, maybe up in his late thirties by now, and he was so positive in a world where everyone and <em> everything </em> wanted to kill you. He used to own a <em> puppy rescue </em> back in the old days, but Sunita basically had him running as babysitter for all kids under ten at this point. “How’re you?”</p><p>“Oh, y’know, <em> dying</em>,” Todd says conversationally as the little girl - Alazandra - tugged harshly on the long blonde hair tied back in a loose bun. “Zandra, love, not the <em> hair </em> - oh, I give up,” Todd winces as she goes to town. “She’s still not half as bad as the puppies,” he shrugs, making Leo snicker and Mikey giggle. “S’been forever! How’ve y’all been?”</p><p>“We’re on official Sunita business,” Raph says importantly.</p><p>“Ah,” Todd nods slowly. “Did you hear about the Dragons and the Foot teaming up? It’s awful,” he cuddles Zandra more securely to his chest. “Dunno why everyone can’t just get along. We’d be so good as just…one big group, y’know? The entire world’s been knocked out, why do we need <em> more </em> bloodshed?” </p><p>Donnie scratches his neck, knowing with his whole ass heart that if Kendra, Casey, and Sunita all tried to rule together the whole city would be more of a wasteland then it already is. But bless Todd and his pacifist heart. “We’re getting out, Todd,” Donnie decides to divulge, acknowledging the surprised looks his brothers give him with a blink. “We don’t want any part of - <em> any </em> of it, anymore.”</p><p>“You four always were lone wolves,” Todd laughs like he’s not surprised at all. “But listen, okay? You boys were always some of my favorites out of all the crazy types that blow through here, so just - whatever you’re doing, whatever you’re <em> planning </em> ,” he warns, and Donnie swallows thickly because Todd <em> knew </em> they detested Sunita, it was literally written all over their faces from day one, “Just...be safe. Stay still not dead.”</p><p>“It's how we’ve survived this long,” Leo smirks cockily, but there’s badly hidden sadness in his eyes. “You take care of yourself, Todd. You were one of the people in this shitty city I<em> didn’t </em> hate.”</p><p>“Language!” Todd shrieks, trying to hold Zandra and cover her ears at the same time, making Donnie and his brothers laugh. “You too! We should stay in touch! I’d love to visit if society gets fixed,” he shakes his head slowly, likely knowing that it was all a pipe dream. But they could hope, of course.</p><p>“Hungry! T-Todd, m’ <em> hungry</em>!” Zandra whines, her long black braids whipping loosely around her head as she thrashed in his grip, and Todd smiles apologetically. </p><p>“I’ve gotta go, but - be careful, okay? Don’t take big risks - er, well take <em> some</em>, but don’t take too many!” he says, walking back the way he’s come - towards another frazzled looking woman who was struggling to corral a bunch of <em> other </em> children, waving with his free hand. “Bye!” </p><p>“Bye, Todd!” Mikey waves back, and as they cross the huge room to get over to the windows he sighs sadly. “I’m gonna miss him.” </p><p>“He’s like the gay uncle,” Leo nods intelligently. “Yeah, he’s real cool, but what I’m<em> really </em> gonna miss is the lemonade.”</p><p>“<em>Leo</em>!” Donnie slaps his shoulder, chuckling, and Leo laughs and slaps him back. Raph, rolling his eyes fondly at their antics, nods at the guards and watches them fit the board between the two buildings again. Donnie wonders what would happen to Vinny and the rest of the guards on the other buildings if Casey and Kendra got brave enough to storm Sunita’s gang. Would they retreat towards Sunita’s building or take a last stand on the buildings they were guarding, Roman style? </p><p>When the plank firmly makes its way between the two buildings they cross, Donnie exhales subtly as they make it to the other side without any further incident (or any of his brothers falling off the narrow wood, thank <em> God </em>). Vinny’s got the gun pulled squarely to his chest still, but smiles as he catches sight of Raph. “Sunita didn’ kill y’all?” </p><p>“Oh, she’d probably love to, but we’re on official business from this point onward,” Raph grins toothily back. “We’ve gotta head in the opposite direction now, but we’ve never traveled past Sunita’s building before. What’s up North?” Donnie pulls out the map as Raph speaks, handing it over to his oldest, and Vinny takes it from Raph eagerly. </p><p>“There was a huge cave-in wih’ a few a’ the buildings a couple months back on these streets, prolly cause of the storms we’ve been having off n’ on? But s’ best to stay ‘way from these couple blocks...or tread lightly if y’all can’t avoid em’. Lost a couple of our men already. We call it the Deadlands,” Vinny taps a couple times on the map with a forefinger, and when Donnie leans over to get a look he winces. Of fucking <em> course </em> Draxum’s lab would be at the very far side of said Deadlands. Of fucking <em> course </em>.</p><p>Now <em> why </em> the hell did nothing ever go easily for them?</p><p>“I fucking <em> hate </em> the apocalypse,” Leo mutters, and Donnie sends him a look because Leo said that at least <em> once </em> every day but was he wrong? Not in the slightest.</p><p>“You boys take care of yourself,” Vinny puffs his chest out, handing the map back to Raph. “Y’all are heading down to Draxum’s, yeah?” He catches the slight shake of a head from the older man, like he knew it was a suicidal mission. “Good luck,” his lips curl into a slight (<em>condescending??</em>) smirk, and Donnie has never had a problem with Vinny <em> ever </em> before but he feels newfound hatred for the older man. <em> Good luck indeed, asshole, </em> he thinks furiously<em>. You can take your stupid gang war and shove it so far up your entitled ass -  </em></p><p><em> Woah</em>. Donnie blinks, suddenly so grateful that no one could hear his thoughts. No wonder Raph and Leo were mostly in charge of handling the talking, because lord almighty he had some pretty nasty thoughts locked up in his head. He hears his brothers give back murmured replies, obviously caught off guard by the knowing gleam in Vinny’s eye - the same look Todd had, the same look <em> Sunita </em>had after Donnie emerged from the bathroom - and turn, jumping from building to building adjacent to Sunita’s lair before continuing onwards Northward bound. </p><p>“They <em> know </em> what we’re going to do, all of them do.” Donnie murmurs to Raph as they pause for a moment on a post office, watching the water slosh furiously down the alleyways and side streets and just <em> streets </em> in general, still swirling remnants of a life before in its murky waters, and Raph nods, obviously lost in thought. </p><p>“Should’ve been a bit quieter about how much we hate them all, ay?” Mikey snickers, and there’s almost nothing funny about the situation they were in but Donnie smiles anyway, cuffing his youngest’s shoulder affectionately. </p><p>-</p><p>If you could jump between buildings in a post-apocalyptic wasteland without anything to report, would it be called smooth sailing? Donnie doesn’t know, but even if everyone’s chatty as the Sun dips past noon and starts trekking back downwards, he’s anxious. Looking back over his shoulder just to make sure they weren’t being followed. </p><p>Leo calls him paranoid only once, but Donnie doesn’t miss the way his twin’s gaze flits backwards a couple times, either. He tries to console himself, remembering that Sunita really <em>did</em> need them to get Draxum on her side - but <em>fuck</em>, was he scared. He talked shit up in Sunita’s penthouse, but if they went directly against her orders like they were <em>literally</em> <em>going to do</em> and got caught in the act while doing so it would all be over. They’d be executed. Sunita had no room in her circle for traitors. </p><p>A part of Donnie is exhilarated, going against her like he is. Another bigger part of him is absolutely terrified. He didn’t know if he cared if he died anymore - but Mikey, Leo, Raph - </p><p>Donnie swallows, looking forward resolutely. He couldn’t let them perish like his father nearly three years before. He’d promised himself earlier today and he fucking <em> kept </em> his promises. They’d get out of this city or die trying. </p><p>“Hold up,” Raph holds a hand up, clutching their map firmly in his other, and the rest of them all skid to a stop, digging their feet in firmly as they all gaze off the rooftop of the building they were currently on to their newest obstacle. “We’re at the Deadlands. <em> Yes</em>, Leo, we know it’s a stupid name, don’t you fuckin’ say it - </p><p>“I wasn’t gonna say anything!” Leo pouts, crossing his arms, and Raph rolls his eyes at him before turning his attention back to the map. </p><p>“We could go around, but it’d be more difficult ‘cause the Sun’ll be gone by the time we get to the warehouse - but if we go through it’ll be more efficient and we can get there by sundown, at the very least,” Raph says after a long pause, glancing first at Leo to see what he had to say.</p><p>“Oh joy, here we go again,” Donnie remembers earlier today and the Leo/Raph argument, wondering if it would all play out the same way again. Mikey sighs but watches, ready to intervene if this conversation went South.</p><p>Leo’s more nervous this time around, twisting his fingers together absently and looking forward at the crumbling rooftops. “I - listen, I know it’d take longer if we go around, but - Raph, what if something happens or breaks out there and I - one of us fall - and - I -</p><p>“Leo, <em> Leo</em>, listen,” Raph takes his hands, squeezing firmly. “You’re pretty much an expert at this now, don’t argue with me because you know it and we know it, too. You’ve fuckin’ <em> got </em>this, Leo, I know it’s scary but we’ll be with you every step a’ the way - </p><p>“It’s only a couple of blocks!” Mikey encourages with a soft smile, and Donnie nods at that. </p><p>“Plus, <em> if </em> there’s anyone still following us this’ll cut them off for at least a couple hours,” Donnie says, seriously, chancing another look the way they’d come and hoping that the flash of movement he noticed a couple rooftops back was <em> just </em> a shadow and not anything else. “We’ll lose them for good. They won’t follow us in there, remember? They lost a few people already.”</p><p>Leon gulps, his shoulders trembling a bit. He sounds vulnerable in a way that Leo never does, and again Donnie feels like absolute shit for forcing his twin through it. “I’m just...god, I’m fucking terrified.”</p><p>“And that’s okay,” Mikey promises. “We don’t think any less of you for being scared. But we’re with you. We’ve got your back, ‘Nardo,” he promises, and Donnie and Raph nod in solidarity. After another long moment Leon exhales, his shoulders slumping in defeat.</p><p>“Okay,” he says eventually. He smiles weakly. “Let’s do it.” </p><p>So they continue onwards through the next buildings, picking their way through the debris and avoiding the gaping holes in the rooftop pavement. At one point Donnie can see all the way down - <em>through </em> a building, twenty-something stories and all, and has to quickly continue before Leo got curious enough to come over. He’s not sure what could have caused such massive destruction in these buildings. Bad support, maybe. Or perhaps they were just badly constructed to begin with.</p><p>He realizes why they call it the Deadlands, though, seeing that nothing could survive out here. He sees the remains of a mutilated corpse maybe twenty minutes after they’ve started their venture through. He can’t even tell of the corpse’s gender, nothing left besides rotting flesh and flies. They hurry past, not wanting to stick around to find the same fate - but Donnie wonders briskly on the state of the corpse. No <em> storm </em> could cut limbs off so cleanly. </p><p>Vinny was holding something back. Something big. </p><p>Half an hour later and they’re finally approaching the edge of the Deadlands, and Donnie can see where Sunita’s marked Draxum’s lab/warehouse ahead - another tall office building, not surprising. </p><p>His breath of relief was his first mistake.</p><p>“Didn’t your mama ever teach y’all not to encroach on other people’s land, boy?” comes a voice from behind them, and Donnie whips around so quickly that it nearly gives him whiplash - and stops, blinking stupidly at the unexpected sight in front of him.</p><p>Maybe a dozen people stood on the rooftop - a couple yards away, the rooftop they were all perched on together was decently sized, and Donnie can’t believe they’d all gotten up after them without making any noise at all. The lead - an older man in tattered and stripped clothing, held a long, curved and bloody knife in his dirty left hand. His entire body was caked in mud and who the fuck <em> knew </em> what else, and he grins toothily at them as he showcases his weapon, wagging it back and forth with a leer. </p><p>The people flanking him, both left <em> and </em> right - were as dirty and probably just as disease-ridden as their leader was. They wore heavy jackets and even heavier gloves, and maybe half of the dozen had thick masks covering their faces. <em> And </em> they all conveniently had sharp and dangerous weapons. Weapons that were <em> also </em> very bloody, Donnie noticed, and that does <em> not </em> give him any warm and fuzzy feelings for his new friends.</p><p>“Uh, <em> no</em>, our <em>mothers</em> are dead,” Leo states very obviously, like the guy was stupid, and Donnie wants to punch his twin <em> so </em> fucking badly but he can’t take his eyes off the lead, afraid that with one wrong move the guy would lunge forward. Maybe if he was quick he could grab his staff, but then the man would have already slit his throat and <em> why </em>is he thinking about this right now -</p><p>“Well, I’m mighty sorry to hear that,” the man says in a tone that made it clear he wasn’t sorry in the least. “Let’s move on, friends - you stumbled into our territory, and we can’t have that. You prolly saw all the <em> other </em> folks back there who made the same mistake y’all did - </p><p>“It was you,” Donnie whispers, looking from member to member of their crazy group, noticing the intense and hungry looks as they gazed Donnie and his family over and shuddering from revulsion. In a louder voice, he repeats himself. “It was <em> you</em>. <em>You </em> killed all those people from Sunita’s group, not the goddamn storms - but…” he stumbles off, eyes widening. “Then there’s no other explanation for the mutilated limbs. You’re either cultists or cannibals.” </p><p>If Baron Draxum and his potential escape route doesn’t work out he’s going to literally <em> kill </em> Vinny for holding back this information. </p><p>Silence for a quick beat. His brothers shift, though only Donnie can tell that they’re nervous. Gang members they’ve dealt with. Gang <em> leaders </em> they’ve dealt with. Cultists and cannibals were thankfully <em> not </em> on the list. “Oh, I like him,” a woman flanking Asshole #1 purrs, cocking her hip and licking her lips, flashing a seductive look at Donnie and - oh god <em> ew</em>. “We’re saving him for last, right, Zagan? Along with curly over there...I like my meat <em> young. </em>”</p><p>Mikey makes a really quiet whimpering noise that Donnie could only hear because he was standing right next to him. “<em>What the fuck,"</em> Raph whispers disbelievingly, and <em> wow,</em> does that literally sum up this entire endevor in it’s entirety - </p><p>“Shut the fuck up, Lili!” Zagan - er, the lead, who Donnie’s <em> presuming </em> is Zagan - snaps in return. “You <em> know </em> we don’t <em> save </em>them, we eat them fresh - </p><p>“Did you guys like, uh, just conveniently have the names of evil supernatural characters? Because I could probably find all these demon baby names on MomJunction.com if I really looked, y’know, if we still had the internet - <em> noo </em> wait I’m sorry please continue with your argument!” Leo holds his hands up as the two of them pause, glancing over at him in surprise. Maybe they’re shocked that their future meal is providing comedic relief.</p><p>“I fucking hate you <em> so much</em>,” Donnie whispers furiously at his twin as they actually go back to their argument, flailing arms and getting into eachother’s faces. He knows he should probably be taking this a lot more seriously but <em> really</em>, cannibals? Who could’ve seen <em>that </em> one coming? “Why the fuck would you say that you are actually so stupid -”</p><p>“Excuse me for being <em> nervous </em> we are literally looking at fucking <em> cannibals </em>Donatello what the fuck would you like me to say -</p><p>“I dunno, maybe a ‘please don’t eat us’ would be more helpful instead of listing off fucking websites - did you manage to forget we’re in the goddamn apocalypse?” </p><p>Leo scoffs. “No, actually. I think it slipped my mind,” he snips back sarcastically. “Thanks for reminding me.”</p><p>“This is not the time for you both to be arguing,” Raph whispers frantically. “We’re literally going to die.”</p><p>“Thank you, Raphael, your words of wisdom are always something to be admired,” Leo snaps at his oldest, then proceeds to pull his katana out. It immediately attracts the attention of said cultists, who have the nerve to look shocked that their meal was now holding a <em> weapon</em>. It was weird to see, because Sunita and her people had literal <em> guns</em>. Why a bunch of psychos were still out here and not mowed down by said guns completely unnerved him. Sunita wouldn’t want these people in her city.</p><p><em> Which must mean she didn’t know about them</em>, Donnie thinks, swallowing thickly. <em> Great</em>. Maybe he won't strangle Vinny just yet.</p><p>Maybe Sunita just assumed that her men died by falling into the water instead of being eaten by cannibalistic survivors. Donnie reaches for his bo, curls his fingers around the weathered and worn wood, feeling it down for the little groove that would drop his naginata blade. He pulls it out of his holster, pushing Mikey behind him even though they both knew full and well that his youngest could take care of himself. There was just something about the woman’s voice that unnerved him, like - </p><p>Like if she grabbed one of them she wouldn’t let go until they were truly dead. Donnie stares Zagan down furiously, his free hand clenched. They were not dying on this rooftop, and he wasn’t going to let any of these freaks touch his family. “We’re obviously not interested,” Donnie snaps. “And if any of you take one step closer I’ll gouge your fucking eyes out.”</p><p>“Ooh, really now? With what, your little stick?” An older woman on the far end taunts, and the entire group laughs, though they all look a bit unnerved as both Raph and Mikey pull their own weapons out - tonfas and kusarigama respectively - and Donnie laughs, cruelly, spinning the staff through his deft and dexterous fingers expertly, pressing into the groove and swinging the blade outwards, toward their new enemy. </p><p>Maybe Donnie <em> did </em> flip-flop on morals, like Leo mentioned earlier. But as Donnie waited for the other party to make a move, he realized he didn’t give a shit about injuring or even killing these people. The woman who spoke before <em> screams</em>, breaking composure from her group, and launches herself towards Donnie with pure fury in her bloodshot eyes and her arms outstretched for blood. </p><p>She never makes it close enough. Donnie stabs her through with his blade, watching the shock flit across her face for a split second as she looks down, watching the blood stain her clothes with what <em> must </em> be a surprised ‘oh’. Donnie uses his strength to hoist the staff upwards, swinging her up and to the right. She slides right off his blade, crumpling to the rooftop with a dying wail, and from there on it was pandemonium as her friends roared in vengeance for their fallen.</p><p>He knew it was an unfair battle from the moment it started. Outmatched eleven to four, and these people were <em> vicious</em>. But Donnie and his brothers grew up under the most respected action star in all of New York (well, before the world went up in figurative flames, that is). They’ve fought for food, for water, for shelter, for <em> survival </em> day after day, and they <em> tried </em> to follow Todd’s example and be pacifists but it just wasn’t enough in this world. Not anymore.</p><p>Donnie fights just as viciously in return, back to back with Raph, then Leo, then Mikey, slashing and jabbing and thwacking any loose body part of the enemy he can reach. His brothers are faring well, he hopes - though he can’t stop and check up on any of them in the midst of battle.</p><p>Blood flies freely. Screaming. More death, endless death. Donnie still slashes and jabs and thwacks, and the fury that comes from him - <em> was </em> it even him? He pauses for a second, trying to wipe away the sweat and blood as he tries to get his bearings, thinking desperately that it <em> must </em> be over soon, it couldn’t go on forever - </p><p>Zargon’s hysterical, having watched his people be taken to literal pieces in front of him, and he’s not taking the sidelines in this fight anymore, going for the only brother temporarily unmatched with an opponent.  </p><p>His brief pause was his second mistake, and honestly, in a situation like this, he should have seen it coming. </p><p>“<em>Donnie, look out!” </em> Leo screams across the rooftop, Raph yells something unintelligible and Donnie barely manages to turn and - he can barely hold his staff, his adrenaline rush coming in much, much too late, and can barely <em> breathe </em> as the first slash gets him straight down the width of his right arm as he reaches up and - </p><p>“<em>Donnie</em>!” Mikey wails, and promptly gets kneed in the stomach by his assailant. Mikey doubles over for only a split second before sailing forward, getting his arms around the man's lower torso and barreling him over. His sharp nails <em> dig </em> into the man’s temples, leaving bloody trails as he rips down the cannibals' face, and - Donnie blinks raggedly, forces himself not to stumble backwards off the edge of the rooftop. He’s swimming, literally swimming, dark spots swimming in his eyes, and he turns rapidly so he could still keep Zargon in sight, clutching his arms and gritting his teeth.</p><p>He still doesn’t know where his staff is, so it’s easy for the cannibal to get him a second time. Right across his collarbone, ripping his purple hoodie with the sharp knife, and Donnie goes down this time, falls in the midst of the other corpses he’d killed only seconds before. Screams come from his brothers, desperate and furious and <em>terrified </em>but can’t get to him because if they turn their backs on the rest of their enemies they’d get their backs pierced through. Donnie stares upwards as Zargon slowly straddles him, grinning maniacally, bending down even closer so the knife was pointed between his eyes. “I’m gonna have so much fun with you,” he promises, seductive and insane, and Donnie’s newfound injuries are screaming and his heart is pounding and his throat feels like its overflowing with either blood or saliva, he’s still not sure - </p><p>“Donnie, Donnie, don’t - don’t you fucking - <em> get the hell away from my brother you sick sonavabitch I’m gonna fucking kill you</em>,” Raph bellows, enraged, hurling the last of his attackers over the side of the building with energy Donnie’s never seen from Raph before - and Mikey and Leo are okay, too, both pulling their weapons from the remains of their enemies - and there’s no one left on the building besides the five of them but Zargon still smiles.</p><p>“Take one step closer and I’ll gouge his fucking eyes out!” Zargon cackles, jutting the knife closer and closer to Donnie’s face, and obediently his brothers stop, looking down at Donnie with horror-stricken expressions. Not that Donnie can see, of course, eyes trained firmly on the cannibal. He tries to say something and <em> can’t</em>, everytime his mouth opens a new pained moan escapes. “That’s a good boy,” he giggles, trailing the flat edge of his knife against Donnie’s cheek, under his chin - almost like he was caressing him. “That’s my good boy.” </p><p>Donnie shudders, blinking back tears, wishing desperately for his brothers - still so close but so far, and chokes on whatever was in his throat. Impulsively, angrily, he spits upwards, catching the cannibal off guard as both blood <em> and </em> saliva color the man’s face, and Zarkon wipes it away, blinking sluggishly down at him in an almost delayed reaction.</p><p>He gets his composure back quickly, eyebrows contorting inwards and eyes narrowed furiously. “Oh, you wanna defy <em> me</em>? You’re gonna get it now, you little fucking <em> slut,"</em> he raises the knife upwards, poising it over Donnie’s chest despite the screams from his family. “Go to hell, you fucking nig -</p><p>And his chest nearly <em> explodes </em> as bullets suddenly rip through it - three, eight, twelve, and they both stare at eachother for a moment as the sound echoes and rebounds in Donnie’s head, blinking languidly up at the cannibal. Blood spurts from Zargon's mouth in fountains, rushing over his chin and staining the front of his thick jacket, and he starts to tip over but Leo kicks the man off of his twin, sneering and stomping on the cannibals' fingers with no remorse as he reaches out weakly for his knife. </p><p>“L-Leo,” Donnie manages eventually, after seconds or literal eons he couldn’t tell, and Leo’s immediately at his side, pushing their foreheads together and entangling their fingers - Donnie’s sobbing again, thick tears that probably aren’t good at this point in time because his body still <em> really </em> wants to pass out. “H-hurts, Leo <em> please </em> -</p><p>“Breathe with me Donnie, it’ll be okay, it’ll - Raph, Mikey, I need bandages and antiseptic and water and - right now, god, I need it <em> right now</em>, he’s losing blood - fuck, <em> quickly </em>- </p><p>A gun cocks, noisily, and they all freeze, Donnie wheezing painfully and now literally begging his eyes to stay open at this point. He tries to get his gaze off of his twin’s and to where the gun cocked - and sees a woman?</p><p>He’s not sure if she’s a figment of his imagination or not. She’s got her hair tied up in a dark brown bun, hair fluffed up to the extreme and straining under the yellow hairtie. She’s in a yellow sweatshirt neatly cut at the midriff into a croptop, black leggings encasing her long legs. In her gloved arms she’s cradling an AK-47, locked and loaded and ready to fire. Her red-rimmed glasses flash in the low light of the sunset, and her plump lips purse as she considers the four of them.</p><p>Maybe not a figment of his imagination, then. Donnie can barely catch Raph in his peripheral vision. “Who -</p><p>“Who - w-who <em> are </em> you?” Donnie manages weakly, looking up at the women like she was some other-worldly, ethereal being. An angel, really. She’d just saved his life.</p><p>“I’m - April. April O’Neil,” she snarls, her grip on her assault rifle tightening and she's obviously still wondering if she should fill <em>them</em> through with bullets too. “And I just saved your fucking life, so maybe explain to me who the fuck you <em> are </em> and what the fuck you <em> want </em> and what y’all are doing here before I do something I won't regret doing.”</p><p>Donnie tries to find an answer for that, but the most that comes from his mouth is garbled nonsense as his head finds home on the bloodied rooftop pavement and everything goes dark.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. breathe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The pain is searing and unsurprisingly <em> painful </em> and nothing Donnie’s ever imagined pain could ever be. Spreading down his right arm and the front of his chest, bright and insistent and awful and everything he never wants to experience again. He’s already having trouble breathing as he struggles to open his eyes, not remembering exactly <em> why </em> he was in so much pain right off the bat. He’s not on any rooftop concrete anymore, in fact he’s laying on a surprisingly - a surprisingly <em> soft </em> surface, like a mattress - </p><p>He can only get his eyes open a crack - and everything is too <em> bright</em>, way too bright even though the room he was in was dim - and he winces, trying to pull his hands up to shield his face. Bad idea. He chomps on his tongue as pain ripples through his entire body, but some of the noise slips through his lips and comes out like a breathy whine. </p><p>“Donnie, put your arms down, you’re gonna - fuck, you’re bleeding through the bandages,” Raph says, and he’s close, and Donnie remembers all at once what happened earlier and makes another undignified noise. “Shh, it’s okay Dee, you’re - fine, <em> you’re fine. </em>”</p><p>“<em>Fuhhhhhck</em> <em>it hurts</em>,” is all Donnie manages, tears slipping unabashedly down his face as he tries to lower his injured arm back to the mattress without brushing against the cut in his chest. The slash in his arm was <em>deeper</em>, and he could tell that it was <em>still</em> bleeding and he feels so disgusting and useless just sitting there because he <em>remembered</em> the cannibals’ knife and how dirty and disease ridden it probably was and - “Ra - Raph, <em>please</em>.” </p><p>“I’m here, Donnie, we all are - Leo, Mike, he’s awake,” Raph rubs his thumb over Donnie’s uninjured arm softly, and the pitter-patter of feet that were trying to be quiet but were so obviously failing was suddenly heard crossing the room towards him. Donnie tries to get his eyes open and manages it this time, blinking rapidly up at the dark ceiling. There’s crackling from what <em> must </em> be a fire, and Donnie’s stuck between hissing at them to put the fire out before they attract more unwanted attention or asking where they are - </p><p>“You’ve been out for maybe half an hour, and - April brought us to Draxum’s lab after you conked out,” Leo explains at Donnie’s confused expression, leaning tiredly on Raph’s shoulder. “You’re still bleeding through your bandages - Mike’s put em’ on like three times already - </p><p>“Stop fucking bleeding,” Mikey tells Donnie’s arm furiously on the other side of the mattress, and Donnie would laugh if he wasn’t in so much pain but it <em> hurts </em> , <em> so </em> much - he’s never felt this much pain ever before, even after he twisted his ankle on the sidewalk or injured his already weak back as a kid. “April, it’s still bleeding!” Mikey shouts, twisting over his shoulder to yell, completely forgetting to keep his voice down for Donnie’s sake and his forehead <em> blooms </em> in pain, which was just fantastic. </p><p>“Ugh,<em> still</em>?” Comes a feminine voice, and seconds later the woman from the rooftop appears next to Mikey, scrutinizing Donnie the same way she scrutinized him on the rooftop. “We’re gonna have to cauterize it if it won’t stop.” </p><p>“Wha - <em> cauterize</em>?” Raph asks as April grabs a water bottle from the backpack she had around her shoulders and held it with a firm hand, pouring the contents over the other. Then she switches, wetting her hands and reaching back into her backpack. She pulls out metal scissors this time.</p><p>“Disinfectant and a rag, now,” she says to Mikey, and Mikey glances from Raph to Leo before disappearing out of view. Seconds later he’s back, handing over both items to her, and April pours some of the disinfectant <em> into </em> the rag - and wipes the scissors down. “It’s not going to stop bleeding, Raph,” April explains as she reaches forward, undressing the bandages on Donnie’s arm and exposing the wound once again. Donnie inhales sharply through his teeth and his eyes nearly roll back into his head at the pain even <em> that </em> caused. “Wipe it down, Mikey, while I go heat this up.”</p><p>Mikey takes the rag with trembling fingers and mumbles something apologetic and unintelligible to his older brother before pressing the disinfectant soaked rag to the knife slash. Immediately Donnie’s writhing, trying to get away from the onslaught of sudden pain - <em>god it fucking hurts</em> <em>so much it hurts make it stop makeit stop MAKE IT STOP</em> - but Raph forces him still with pressure on his shoulder and a tearful expression. Leo can’t even look. “I’m sorry, Donnie, I’m <em>sorry</em>,” Mikey sobs over Donnie’s muffled wails as the pain gets exponentially worse and Donnie -</p><p>Donnie had no way to describe the pain. The only thing he’d be able to think, looking back, was that he wouldn’t wish it on even his worst enemies. Mikey pulls away after another long moment, thankfully taking the rag with him, soaked full with blood, and Donnie makes yet another undignified noise, not caring if it sounded stupid or babyish or <em> anything </em> anymore, the pain was just so <em> excruciating </em> and -</p><p>They’re given a quick moment to calm down, Donnie’s breathing ragged and uneven, clutching Leo’s hand as a lifeline while Raph rubs encouraging circles into the ripped fabric of Donnie’s sweatshirt and Mikey backing up to breathe but never straying far. April’s back in maybe three minutes, though it feels like seconds and as Donnie looks at the burning red metal of the thick scissors he licks his dry lips, knowing that the pain from the rag was nothing compared to what’s coming next.</p><p>“I - I’ve got a guard, here, bite down on this,” April pans out a mouthguard, with a wad of torn sheets added as a gag, and Donnie blinks gratefully at her as Raph shakily fits it into his mouth. He bites down on the guard, kneading his teeth anxiously into the material as April steps into the place Mikey abandoned, looking at him with eyes filled with sympathetic determination. Donnie grips Leo even tighter, digging his nails into the top of his twin’s hand. “Brace yourself,” is all she says, and presses the blindingly hot metal to the gash on Donnie’s upper arm. </p><p>Donnie tries, he really, really does, but he manages the pain for about two seconds before screaming. April quickly pulls the scissors away and moves the metal down, pressing it against the wound with burning ferocity - and Donnie can’t - he can’t <em> stand </em> it, he’s in pure panic mode and his eyes are streaming, he can’t control the noises coming out of his mouth - “Stop it, April, you’re <em> killing </em> him!” Leo’s screaming, somehow right next to him and a football field’s length away. Donnie’s sobs don’t get completely muffled by the gag and he sounds so fucking out of it but he can’t - </p><p><em> Just let me pass out </em> , he begs. <em> Please just let me - </em></p><p>She pulls it away after another millennium, blinking tears out of her own eyes - and Raph’s working furiously to get the gag out of his mouth, and as soon as it’s free Donnie tries - <em> manages</em>, somehow - to get to his feet. There’s a trash can a few feet away, full with bloody bandages, and Donnie barely makes the distance before fully emptying the contents of his stomach. </p><p>Immediately there’s soothing hands rubbing circles into his back and murmured reassurances - from his twin and youngest/oldest brother alike, and when Donnie pulls his head out of the trash can he blinks the water out of his eyes, bringing his uninjured arm up to shield them, still trembling violently. “M’sorry,” he turns, face angled downward so he didn’t have to look at their pitying expressions, and he tries to sound comprehensible but <em> god </em>, did it hurt - it just burnt so much - </p><p>“Shh, it’s okay,” Mikey envelops him in a gentle hug, keeping his voice down this time. “Don’t cry, Dee, you know I hate it when you…!” his voice catches on a sob himself, and Donnie buries his face into Mikey’s thick curls, probably soaking them through with his tears but he’s almost completely sure his youngest wouldn’t mind in the least. </p><p>They stay like that for another long moment before Mikey slowly pulls away and looks Donnie over. “How do you feel?” he asks quietly, and Donnie answers with a bitter and brittle laugh.</p><p>“Like s-shit,” he manages, wiping a batch of fresh tears away. “Thank you,” he says to April, glancing down to his now cauterized arm. “It’s - it stopped bleeding.”</p><p>April nods in return, letting a bashful smile poke through her obvious headstrong exterior. “S’nothing. I had a friend do the same thing to me, rusty metal across the thigh. Nice to meet you, by the way. I’m April.”</p><p>“Donatello,” Donnie finally lets a tired smile adorn his features. “M’friends n’ family call me Donnie, though. Likewise. I probably would’ve bled out if you weren’t here, none of my brothers have medical training - </p><p>“Yeah, I could tell,” April laughs, smoothly ignoring the dirty look Leo sends the both of them. “C’mere. I needa finish you up. Cauterized wounds can easily get infected, and we’ve still got a bit to go before Draxum’s.”</p><p>Donnie blinks in surprise at her revelation, glancing at his other brothers to see if <em> they </em> knew about this as he walks back over to the mattress, sitting at the edge and turning his neck to watch her prop the backpack on the other side, pulling out what looks like rubbing alcohol and another rag. His chest injury twinges uncomfortably but doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as his arm. “You <em> know </em> Draxum?” </p><p>Immediately he knows the answer. Of course she did. She brought them to Draxum’s lab in the first place, didn’t she? And if this was <em> the </em> infamous April...the <em> same </em> April that Sunita dated - </p><p>“Yeah, he’s the friend,” April explains tiredly, glancing up at him before returning her attention to her backpack. “S’where I learned all my medical shit from, too. We lived in the same apartment when the tsunami hit and the city fell. My parents died,” she continues, pulling a clean strip of bandaging from the backpack before zipping it up. She walks around the mattress before joining him on it, injured arm side. “I’ve been with him ever since. No more questions,” she says firmly as Donnie opens his mouth to ask yet another question. “I should’ve killed y’all when I heard you were from Sunita,” she says, sarcastically, but there’s an undertone of bitterness in her statement. “Can’t <em> believe </em> y’all are working with her.”</p><p>Yep, this was <em> the </em> April. Fantastic. Just their luck that Sunita’s ex was also the same woman who saved his life. “We aren’t working with - <em> ow </em> ,” Donnie complains as April presses the alcohol soaked rag to his injury. It doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as the cauterization, but it makes his head swim and he <em> knows </em> he’ll need a long nap after this. And some water. And maybe about a million other things, to be completely honest. He struggles to concentrate on April’s words. “We don’t - we’re not here <em> for </em> Sunita - </p><p>“We kinda are,” Leo points out.</p><p>“Not helping,” Donnie tells him, wincing from the pain for what feels like the hundredth time. “We just wanna get out of the city, and - well, Sunita made a deal with us. One that we’re willing to break to get out of here.” He could feel April’s eyes on him, still slightly wary and hostile even though she knew full and well that the four of them weren’t in any state to fight. </p><p>She still considers his answer, though, and that’s all Donnie cares about. “Draxum, right?” she asks finally, gently wiping his arm down once more before pulling bandaging out. “If I know her at <em> all </em> she’s gonna want Draxum.”</p><p>“Yeah, she thinks she can use him in her war against the Dragons and the Foot,” Raph gnashes his huge, menacing teeth together - and Donnie’s gotta give April credit on how she doesn’t even flinch. Most people balked on Raph and how <em> big </em> and imposing the guy looked, but April just took his answer into stride and started bandaging Donnie’s arm up with pristine conditioned (for the apocalypse, anyway) bandaging. Donnie likes her already. </p><p>“Good luck with that,” April snorts disbelievingly. “He fucking hates the gangs. Kept out of em’ and kept me out of em’, too. I can fuckin’<em> see </em> why, honestly. Sunita’s not the same girl I used to know, that’s for damn sure.” </p><p>“So that’s why you never went to find Sunita?” Mikey asks, and Donnie can tell he’s a little awestruck of her. April pauses for only a beat before returning to Donnie’s arm, but her eyes are narrow now. “She doesn’t know <em> what </em> happened to you, says she tried to find you for years - an’ then blamed you for a lot of things, too,'' Mikey scratches his neck, then twists his fingers together nervously. “But she said you prolly woulda’ liked us, so that’s good!” </p><p>Dead silence. Donnie can tell she didn’t know how to respond, and doesn’t blame her. “I always wondered what it’d be like if I went back to her,” she says eventually. “But I’d never do it. I heard about the shit she gets up to now-a-days, what she does wi’ people who don’t do what she wants. Like I said, she’s not Sunita anymore. That Sunita died with the flood,” she finishes with Donnie’s arm, leans forward, and rips the excess bandaging with her teeth. Then she leans back, gives a hesitant smile to Mikey. “Though I guess she was right about one thing. I think we <em> will </em> get along.” </p><p>“You’ve known us for barely an hour, what makes you think you can trust us?” Leo asks, curious. He’s got his entire body language angled towards her, fully invested in what she has to say, and Donnie has to hide a smile. His brothers like her, too.</p><p>“Well - I don’t know if I <em> trust </em> you, yet, I don’t know y’all and y’all don’t know me,” April stands, wadding the bandaging into a ball and sticking it, the rag, and the alcohol back into her backpack. “But y’all fought the cannibals and took down a dozen of them. You want to get out of the city and don’t agree with any of the gangs, <em> ‘specially Sunita’s. </em> If that’s good enough for me it’s good enough for Draxum. He’ll hear you out. Dunno about transportation out of the city, though. Fuckin’ bird won’t <em> start</em>.”</p><p>She says the last sentence quietly but Donnie still catches it - and his eyes widen. “Draxum has a <em> plane </em> ?” he asks, exchanging excited looks with his brothers because holy <em> fuck </em> was this huge - </p><p>“Oh no, don’t you get excited - Barry’s been tryna finish it for months now - there’s something still <em> wrong </em> with it. Do you really think we’d still be here if we had a fully functioning plane?” April shakes her head tiredly, but Donnie - </p><p>“No, you don’t - Donnie’s a fuckin’ <em> scientist </em> , ‘Pril - he was nearly the valedictorian of his graduating class, straight A’s in everything! He was gonna go to college for math, he’s <em> that </em> smart!” Mikey points at the brother April just patched up, mouth curling into an excited (and proud, <em> bless him </em>) smile. “He’s been in robotics since seventh grade and literally invented new areas of math in his free time, he’ll tell you about it! Lord knows he wouldn’t shut up about it back in the apartment -</p><p>“Shut <em> up</em>, Mikey,” Donnie protests, and everyone - even April, laughs.</p><p>“I wasn’t <em> done</em>, Dee,” Mikey sticks his tongue out. “He’s the smartest person I know,” he continues fondly. “If anyone could fix your plane, it would be Donnie.” </p><p>“I hate you so much sometimes,” Donnie says affectionately, holding his arms out gingerly for another hug. Mikey peels himself away from Raph and crosses over to the mattress, nestling into Donnie’s side. “What’d you do that for, huh? I can brag too, y’know.” </p><p>“This is the way <em> out</em>,” Mikey’s beaming, and Donnie’s never seen him so exuberant or <em> happy </em> and it makes his heart soar. “We won’t have to kill people like you said, Dee! You’ll be the one to do it, too - fix our horse up and we can ride off into the sunset! That was metaphorical, by the way, the horses are prolly all dead. Sad,” he says, then quickly continues on with enough gusto and energy to leave them all at a standstill. “I’ve never felt good about any of the shit we get down too, but this - it could <em> work </em>,” he pleads. “We could get out of here, Donnie, all of us. Without putting peeps like Annalise in danger, like you said.”</p><p>Donnie feels so many - <em> too </em> many emotions, it’s hard to sift through them all. But he knew, with every inch of his battered, broken, <em> bruised </em> body that Mikey was right. He’s known April for about ten minutes and already trusts her - call that dangerous or foolish if you will, but the Hamato’s don’t trust easily. “If we could fix the plane d’you think he’d let us come with?” Donnie asks April quietly, and she hesitates again.</p><p>“I don’t wanna give you false hope, but - yeah, maybe,” she says hesitantly. “‘Course I can’t really say anything while we’re still here, we’re gonna have to talk to him ‘bout it first, but if you can <em> fix </em> the goddamn thing we’ll worship the damn ground you walk on. Donnie - you, uh, are you in any shape to move?”</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” Raph, Mikey, and Leo say while Donnie mumbles a simultaneous: “Uhh, sure.” Donnie immediately exchanges annoyed looks with his brothers. “Sorry, are you guys named Donnie?” Donnie asks, quirking his eyebrows. “Didn’t think so.”</p><p>“Donnie, you. Are so fucking stupid. You just got <em> attacked </em> by cannibals. You have significant knife slashes all <em> over </em> your upper body and you’re literally the <em> only </em> thing hopefully getting the six of us out of this city, so…” Leo pauses, clearly restraining himself from taking Donnie by the shoulders and shaking violently. “If you’re <em> dead </em> how is that gonna help us?”</p><p>“Can we at least get some rest first?” Raph pleads, glancing towards April for her say. “I don’t trust Donnie’s arms and if we have to climb...it’s already difficult enough when we’re all at perfect health.” </p><p>April nods. “I don’t blame you, honestly. Do you guys wanna take showers? I can get food in him while you guys -</p><p>“<em>Showers</em>?” Mikey gapes. “Oh my fucking <em> god </em> no way - </p><p>“Yes way!” April giggles, beckoning for them to follow as she walks further into the room, past the crackling <em> open </em> fire and over to the wall - said fire was thankfully controlled in a pit in the floor and not nearly as high as it was earlier, (and it wasn’t burning on wood, so there was no <em> smoke</em>, thank god) but Donnie still feels uneasy on turning his back on an open flame.</p><p>“Draxum’s two buildings - this one and the other one farther North where we’ve got the plane hidden - they both run on fuel from a generator instead of regular electricity like most of the buildings in New York. It’s been like that since before the tsunami,” April explains as she pulls a curtain back and exposes a simple room with a showerhead. “Since it’s a laboratory, this is only supposed to be used if you get toxic shit on you, but…” April grins. “Now we just use it for showers.”</p><p>“‘Holy shit,” Donnie remarks. “Where’d you get the water to wash from? I mean - s’not like plumbing's really a thing anymore -</p><p>“It’s rainfall,” April continues as Leo and Mikey make excited noises and immediately start arguing over who gets to take a shower first. “Good thing about living in the end of the world is that it rains here <em> constantly</em>, yeah? Draxum has rainfall collectors all over. Then he just set it up so the water feeds into the showerhead - you can see the machine over there,” she points towards it as she talks, a big machine along the far side of the huge room. It whirred constantly, and if he really listened, he could hear water sloshing around inside. </p><p>“That is so <em> cool,</em>” Donnie breathes out, quickly going nerd-mode mentally and making a mental list of how many goddamn <em> questions </em> he’s gotta ask Draxum. He’s certainly got this whole apocalypse thing figured out pretty damn good. </p><p>“Right?” April agrees, folding an arm and propping her other against it vertically, resting her chin against her fist. She can’t hide her smile as she continues. “Oh, and it’s <em> hot </em>water, too.”</p><p>“<em>Fuck </em> all y’all I’m going first,” Mikey shrieks, slipping past both Raph and Leo and planting himself firmly underneath the showerhead. “Go away I’m gonna shower.”</p><p>“Who said <em> you </em> get to go first?” Leo whines, still insistent on getting the shower before any of his brothers. </p><p>“Hot water, Leo,” Mikey returns smugly. “I’ll be really quick just lemme enjoy this while it lasts.”</p><p>“But I wanted to go first!” Leo protests. “I’m not leaving until I get to shower - </p><p>“<em>I’m getting undressed!"</em> Mikey sings, and just for effect he starts peeling his shirt off. Leo makes a petrified noise and shields his face like seeing his brother shirtless was punishable by death.</p><p>“<em>Ewwwww </em> okay fine you win you <em> win </em> -</p><p>“Five minutes, Mike,” Raph chuckles good-naturedly as Donnie and April snicker. “Any longer and I’m coming in there and throwing you out. M’serious. I want some of that water, too.”</p><p>“No problemo,” Mikey winks cheerily and slides the curtain closed. Seconds later Mikey’s sweats (thermal fleece, perfect for the apocalypse) come flying over the top of the shower curtain and hit Leo square in the face. Leo squawks in indignation as the water starts and Mikey makes an excited-sounding noise. “April I literally love you this feels so nice!”</p><p>“There’s shampoo and conditioner on the little shelf,” April replies, laughing. “Dunno how much it’ll moisturize your ‘fro, but - </p><p>“Don’t worry about it, I’ve gone years without properly washing it, poor things gonna be happy just <em> having </em> something in it,” Mikey giggles and makes more happy noises. Leo gets Mikey’s leggings off his face and grumbles something unintelligible, glaring jealousy at the curtain. April tugs Donnie by the elbow and when he glances towards her she motions with her chin back over to the fireplace. Leaving his brothers with the shower, he follows her back over.</p><p>“Sit here,” she instructs once they’ve approached the fire, and Donnie dutifully takes a seat on the tiled floor, leaning against a sealed wooden crate while she goes through her backpack yet again. “You don’t mind being last?” she asks, her back towards Donnie, and he gives a snort before responding. </p><p>“Sucks being after Leo, he’s always taken the longest showers,” he watches the flames crackle and pop. “But no, not really. It’s...nice, seeing them so happy.  Arguing over simple shit like showers. Usually it’s fights over our next move. Our most recent was over helping Sunita, I…” he swallows. “Leo wanted to do it.”</p><p>“He did?”</p><p>“Yeah. But not because he <em> agrees </em> with Sunita, y’know? He’s just willing to do whatever it takes.” He pulls his legs to his chest, minding the injuries as he maneuvers his chin to rest on his bruised knees. “He’d do anything to keep the three of us alive. Raph and Mikey would, too, and so would I, but - the way he <em> said </em> it, today - he’s changed. All of them have.”</p><p>April’s silent as she works, pulling different things from her backpack, and when she turns he can see she’s got a rare delicacy in one of her hands. An actual, honest to god <em> Milky Way</em>. In her other is a bottle of painkillers. “Does that scare you?” she asks finally, coming over to sit next to him. Donnie shifts slightly to make room for her, and watches as she unwraps the Milky Way and snaps it in half. </p><p>“It should,” he accepts the offered piece and takes a bite, closing his eyes as chocolate-y flavor colors his entire mouth. Literal <em> bliss</em>. “But at the same time I think I understand where he’s coming from. Just fuckin’ sucks, cause if we really went through with getting Draxum over on Sunita’s side she’d use him and wipe out the entire city. So we’d escape -</p><p>“But at what cost?” April agrees, nodding. She takes a bite from her half of the bar. “Y’all seem like decent-enough people, though. M’glad you’re going against her.”</p><p>Donnie decides not to tell her about their backup plan and asks her another question that's been plaguing his mind ever since he awoke. “How’d you know not to kill us? Like - I mean, we were far from a threatening sight out on that rooftop, but -</p><p>“If the fact that you held up four against twelve didn’t seal the deal, it was - honestly, the way your brothers acted after you passed out. They were hysterical, I’ve never seen anything like it. Blood and shit was <em> everywhere </em> and your twin looked angry enough to <em> resurrect </em> the guy I shot through and murder him again.”</p><p>“Sounds like them, yeah,” Donnie chews casually. </p><p>April sends him a look, eyebrows raised. “And then Mikey started crying, and I - yeah,” she says, scratching awkwardly at her neck. “We brought you here. I was coming here anyway,” she gestures at the room. “Draxum needed me to grab one of his plans for an engine. For the plane,” she clarifies after a beat, twisting the cap off the bottle and shaking two little pills out. Donnie holds a hand out and she pours the two of them into it. “We don’t use this place much anymore, but...you’re lucky it was close.”</p><p>Donnie swallows the pills and is silent for another minute, knowing what she means immediately. “Thank you,” he rests his chin on his knees again. “For not killing us, and taking us in, and - and saving my life - </p><p>“Stop thanking me, I prolly would’ve killed myself with guilt if I just left you lot out there to die,” she waves him off with another bashful grin. Laughing comes from over by the shower and Donnie twists his neck to see what was going on - Mikey’s got his sweatpants up and his shirt halfway pulled over his chest, grumbling unintelligibly while Leo pushes past him to get in the tiny room. Raph’s belly-laughing, something Donnie<em> never </em> sees from Raph anymore, and Donnie shakes his head affectionately and turns back to the fire. “You really love them, don’t you?” April’s got that look on her face, and Donnie sighs in exasperation.</p><p>“Way more than I should,” he rolls his eyes, and they both laugh together.</p><p>Comfortable silence follows, and it’s a silence Donnie doesn’t feel uncomfortably obligated to beak. April didn’t seem like the wretched beast Sunita made her out to be back in her luxurious penthouse, but then again Donnie shouldn’t have ever taken any of Sunita’s words to face value. He spaces out for a bit, the fire becoming an orange blur, but he doesn’t try to focus or regain his senses. For the first time in who knows <em> how </em> long, he lets himself fully relax.</p><p>“What do y’all call it?” Leo’s suddenly asking, and Donnie breaks himself out of his little stupor. Mikey and Leo are around the fire now, pressed against each other. Which must mean it's Raph’s turn in the shower. Donnie feels the anticipation for the warm water against his back and shivers impatiently. </p><p>“Uhh...No Man’s Land? Y’know, since the cannibals are just like…<em> shells </em> of regular humans, yeah?” April replies.</p><p>“Oh, that’s a cool name! Sunita’s group calls it the <em> Deadlands</em>, prolly cause everyone she sends in there ends up dead,” Mikey mumbles, most likely remembering how they were almost another part of that ‘everyone’. April rolls her eyes.</p><p>“That’s such a fucking stupid name.”</p><p>“Oh my god, <em> right</em>?” Leo reaches out for a fist-bump, and April provides with a happy little smile. Fondness curls in his stomach as he watches the three of them interact and he nearly misses the next sentence of the conversation. </p><p>“It’s kinda perfect that the cannibals chose to set up camp right <em> there,</em> actually. It’s how Sunita and her group haven’t found us yet. Everytime she sends a new batch of people they end up dead. The farthest they’ve ever made was the lab, and - Sunita <em> herself </em>was in this room. Dunno how they got here, though. Must have gone around No Man’s Land.” April shivers, and again Donnie wonders how they were ever a couple if they were so drastically different from each other. “Fuck them, honestly. Stole a bunch of our shit.”</p><p>“That was the best shower <em> ever</em>,” Raph exclaims suddenly, startling all of them, and Donnie looks up to his oldest. His hair, usually tamed back in a bun, hung loosely around his shoulders and Donnie can’t hold back the <em> noise </em> he makes because it was so fucking <em> long </em> and Raph’s never had his hair that long - </p><p>“Raph, babe, you’re actually killing it,” Leo remarks, looking up at him with wide eyes. “Don’t you ever put your hair up again literally you look stunning.” </p><p>“D’aww, thanks,” Raph smiles shyly. “You guys are smashing it though! You’re both glowing.”</p><p>Mikey preens at the compliment while Leo scoffs and makes an <em> obviously </em> snort. Donnie rolls his eyes at the three of them before standing, only struggling slightly with his injuries. “I’m going - uh - now,” he glances down to the bandage on his upper arm, wondering how it was going to handle being exposed to hot water so soon after he’s got it cauterized, but April taps his ankle. </p><p>“Don’t take it off, either of them,” she nods to his chest injury as well. “We’ll change them after you’re done.”</p><p>Donnie nods in response and turns, making his way back over to the far wall. It’s darker over here without the fire, but he doesn’t mind that at all as he steps into the little room and closes the shower curtain. Quickly he strips, piling his clothes in a little stack in the far corner where the water wouldn’t reach it - and turns the knob to start it up.</p><p>There was still hot water left, even <em> after </em> all three of his brothers, thank the lord - and Donnie makes a wordless noise of pleasure and very nearly melts under the scalding hot water. It feels so <em> good</em>, running through his dark hair, down his face and off his relaxed shoulders, trailing rivets down his chest and back alike - and Donnie rests his head against the tiled interior wall and just <em> breathes </em> for a second.</p><p>“Fuck,” he whispers after a long moment, grinning goofily. After three years of taking showers in the pouring rain, this was literal heaven. Draxum was a fucking <em> godsend</em>. “Yayyy,” he whispers like a complete dork, peeling his forehead from the wall. He lathers his coarse hair with shampoo, then conditioner, then scrubs his body down quickly. He watches as weeks worth of sweat, dirt, and just grime in general disappear down the drain. Turning the water off reluctantly after another long moment, he toweled his body off and stepped back into his clothes. </p><p>These clothes are still relatively new, pulled straight off the hangers from an abandoned closet back in the Foot’s terf. They’re extremely cozy and Donnie can’t keep the smile off his face as he leaves the shower and heads back over to his siblings and his hopefully? New friend? He got the deeper sense that April was as real as they come, even after knowing her for such a short time.</p><p>“You look <em> fantastic</em>,” Leo squeals encouragingly, clapping as Donnie stops back in front of the fire. “I always forget about your undershave until you wash it and then we get to see how you grew it out -</p><p>“Ugh, don’t remind me of the undershave!” he plops down dramatically in-between April and Raph, holding his wrist out so April could peel off the wet bandaging. “Awkward teen years.”</p><p>“You’re literally twenty, babe,” Leo throws an exasperated gaze to April, who’s keeping a very straight (<em>not</em>) face and focusing determinedly on Donnie’s arm. “‘Awkward teen years’ was literally last year.”</p><p>“Shut up, I’ll be twenty in a few months,” Mikey rolls his eyes, pretending to be irritated, and then Raph makes a weird-sounding snort that breaks their composure and has everyone laughing. </p><p>Donnie falls into the rhythm of them once again, all three of his brothers and April, who falls in with them like she’s always been, and to be completely honest, it’s one of the best nights he’s ever had in the apocalypse, cannibals and cauterized wounds and all. Pity his subconscious didn’t agree, because the nightmare he had that night was the worst one by far.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>ASJDNKAJDSMA sorry i'm actually so obsessed with the five of them it's insane</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. a.m.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> “I’m dying, Purple.” </em>
</p><p><em> Donnie feels a mixture of emotions at his father’s declaration. Rage, for daring to hide this critical piece of information from his sons for so long. Terror, because what were they ever going to do without him? Resignation, because he knew that this moment was inevitable. Grief, because he didn’t want this moment to be </em> <b> <em>now</em></b><em>, for god’s sake.  </em></p><p>
  <em> Donnie tenses, laces his trembling fingers together, and bows his head. He was sitting at Splinter’s bedside, the afternoon Sun casting rays across the fluffy duvet. If the high rise apartment window wasn’t chipped and broken in places and you couldn’t hear the water sloshing furiously a dozen floors down, you could pretend things were still how they used to be. You could almost pretend they weren’t almost a year into this crazy, bizarre, fucked up world. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Why?” Donnie manages eventually, eyes clenched shut. If Splinter hears the shake in his voice he’s kind enough not to call him out on it. “Why didn’t you tell us? We could’ve helped you, Dad, and you - you didn’t even try - </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Donatello.” Splinter snaps, and Donnie looks up, mahogany eyes watering at the husk of a man his father has become. “The only reason I’ve been pushing myself for this long is for you four. Do not say I haven’t tried. I’ve given everything I have left.”  Another long pause, and his features gently soften. He holds a shaking hand out, and Donnie takes it without hesitation. “Purple,” a smile spreads across his father’s face, and tears slip down Donnie’s. “My smartest. My funniest.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He coughs, a wheeze that shudders the entire bedframe. “I am old. And ill. This world, whatever has become of it, is just too much for me to handle. It is not your fault. It’s just the way things are.” He squeezes Donnie’s hand tighter. “But I haven’t regretted a single moment in my life. Adopting you four...was the best decision I could have ever made. Don’t ever forget that, my son.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Donnie wants to say something to that but can’t find the words. He nods instead, tries for an encouraging smile but can’t quite get it. “You take care of your brothers, Donatello. Family is all you have left in this world, and if I’ve raised you four right, you will make it through. Whatever it takes,” he pulls out of Donnie’s grip and reaches upwards, wipes a few tears off his own cheek. “Whatever it takes.” </em>
</p><p>Donnie opens his eyes. </p><p>For a moment he stares, almost disbelieving, at the darkened lab ceiling. The flames of the fire trickle out a couple feet away, fading embers of the best night Donnie’s had in the past three years, but Donnie can only focus on the resurfaced memory of his dying father. He struggles briefly to remember what came afterwards, remembering only broken wails from Mikey and clenched fists from Leo and stonewall expressions from Raph. </p><p>Splinter had forced them to leave, he recalls. Not wanting them to see his last moments alive sounded like a good idea in theory, but nobody had taken it well. Leo had cracked, punched Raph and screamed for what felt like hours for not <em> realizing</em>, for not preventing their father’s demise from coming, for doing what Splinter wanted and leaving him to die alone. The unbridled and uncontrolled anger dancing across Leo’s face was something Donnie never would forget. </p><p>And yet Raph took it, refused to fight back, even with a broken nose and a bruised jaw. That’s how Sunita and half a dozen of her followers found them, orphaned and alone on an abandoned rooftop just outside what was now known as Purple Dragons territory. Alone in an afterglow of endless agony and grief. </p><p>He sits up, looks over his three fast asleep siblings like he does every morning and ignores the twinge of pain in his injuries as he does so. April’s already awake, across the lab at a corkboard Donnie hasn’t explored yet, sifting through the papers pinned there with a flashlight in her right hand. Standing, he stretches an individual limb one at a time as he stumbles blearily across the short distance of the room to join her. </p><p>She looks over her shoulder as he approaches, offering a small smile in greeting which he readily returns. “You have a good sleep, Dee?” she asks, and his stomach twists at what her saying his nickname meant to him. ‘Dee’ or ‘Tello’ was reserved specifically for family, but somehow Donnie doesn’t mind her using it. She’s growing on him quickly, and no one in the <em> history </em> of Donatello Hamato has ever grown on him this fast. </p><p>She just felt <em> right</em>, and nothing felt right to him anymore.</p><p>“Yeah,” he lies, yawning, which makes her yawn too, and they share a quiet laugh over that. She turns back to the corkboard, reaching out with nimble fingers to look under a piece of paper. She makes a wordless noise of excitement and hands the flashlight to Donnie, pulling the packet underneath off completely. </p><p>“Found it,” she grins, and Donnie holds the flashlight beam up to the stapled papers she was smoothing back. “Plans for the engine. Fucking finally, I’ve been searching <em> forever</em>. Sun’s gonna be up in a few.” </p><p>Full schematics for an airplane engine, dimensions and everything. Donnie feels excitement building in his stomach and nearly forgets all about his awful dream. This was what they’d been waiting for for years. This was what their father would’ve wanted them to do. April and Draxum really <em> were </em> serious about this. “Holy shit,” he says, and that doesn’t even begin to cover it. April laughs again, squeezing his uninjured shoulder in excitement.</p><p>“D’you mind helping me pack up the backup food we’ve stored here? I don’t think we’ll be coming back,” April questions, and Donnie nods, following his new friend over to a couple cabinets lining the far wall. Just like the laboratories they’ve staked out in before, there’s Bunsen burners, microscopes, and even a half assembled telescope on a round wooden table as they pass. If there wasn’t an apocalypse Donnie probably would’ve spent all his time in this room. Exploring to his heart's content. </p><p><em> Maybe there’s laboratories in New Zealand</em>, he thinks giddily as April stops in the back left corner of the huge room, reaching upward to open a cabinet. “I’ll pull them down, you bag em’,” she nods sympathetically towards his bandages, sliding her backpack off her shoulders and the engine plans on the counter. “Don’t want you straining yourself any more than you have too.” </p><p>Donnie nods again and she pulls the first couple cans down, placing them on the counter. He bags them, noting happily that there were no canned peaches. So it goes for awhile, peas and almonds and bottled water and even unpopped popcorn, a treat Donnie truly hopes April and Draxum will indulge in with the rest of them, and then - </p><p>“Shit!” April snaps suddenly, and Donnie looks up from the stuffed to the brim backpack as she stumbles backwards, cradling a finger. “Fucking <em> rat</em>,” she hisses, and Donnie raises the flashlight again as said rat hisses back at them from its place in the cabinet. “Little fucker bit me.”</p><p>“How did it even get in there?” Donnie asks, raising his eyebrows as it squeaked and chattered furiously. He’d call it cute if it wasn’t almost eighteen inches. “It kinda looks like Leo,” he snickers. </p><p>Donnie can’t see her eyes but he knows she rolls them. “Walls are infested with them,” she slams the cabinet door in the rat’s face and zips the backpack up, grabbing both it and the plans she left on the counter. “Come on,” she says, walking past him and back over to where they’ve left the rest of Donnie’s family. “Gotta wash this so it doesn’t get infected.” </p><p>Donnie follows, grinning to himself as he sees his brothers already awake and exchanging sleepy conversation. They looked well-rested, a feat unusual for them. “Hey, Leo, good morning,” Donnie holds back a building cackle as they approach the fire. His brothers look up at the two of them, blinking blearily. “There’s a rat in the cabinet back there that really reminded me of you. Had your eyes.”</p><p>“Fuck off, Donnie,” Leo mutters with a snarky expression and an eye roll, voice still heavy from sleep, and Donnie smirks back at him.</p><p>-</p><p>“Be <em> careful</em>,” Mikey shrieks for the fifth time in the past thirty seconds as Donnie pulls himself up on the roof of the next building, exhaling only a little shakily as he rises to his feet. “Whoa, Dee, you’re not looking too good.” </p><p>“M’<em>fine</em>,” Donnie repeats for the sixth time in the past minute and a half, countering Leo’s and April’s scoff with his own. “Quit it, I’ve traveled when I was sick before and you all weren’t crowding me then, so - </p><p>“You were sick with a cold, Donnie, you’ve never gotten cut within an inch of your life,” Raph sighs from behind him, and Donnie and the others walk forward a few paces so Raph can join them on the rooftop they were on currently. “April, I hate to ask but - </p><p>“We’re almost there,” April promises, pointing a thin finger to a building maybe a block up ahead. “Remember? It’s the one I told y’all had the roof crumbling in. My old apartment.”</p><p>“Why would you want to live there? Besides memories, I mean,” Leo asks as they cross the rooftop together, April glancing around every which way to make sure they weren’t being followed. Donnie doubted they were, what with the assault rifle April had slung over her shoulder, but he understood the sentiment - he partook in the same precautions himself, even. </p><p>“If it looks shitty then people tend to skip over it,” April shrugs. “You’ve gotta know that, living between the gangs like you do, babe - whoa, Donnie, Mikey was right, you’re...looking a little ashy, now.” They stop in the middle of the rooftop, glancing back towards Donnie, and he stops, biting on his lower lip and struggling not to make any movements that would give away how queasy and uneasy he felt. April doesn’t get the memo, apparently, because she raises her eyebrows and gives him a once-over. “Quit pulling that ‘i’m-not-hurt’ bullshit. You need medication. <em> Proper </em> medication.”</p><p>“I’m <em> fine</em>,” Donnie insists, though he does feel a bit nauseous now. “Just...dehydrated. Can I have some water?”</p><p>“Yeah, of course,” Mikey pulls out a bottle and hands it over, and Donnie really hopes they don’t notice his fingers tremble as he raises the bottle to his lips. The water is refreshing and almost takes the excruciating edge of the Sun off his back. He’s gotten pretty damn good at ignoring his new injuries but they still manage to find a way to twitch annoyingly in pain every time he moves. Which is fine. Completely fine. </p><p>Until they’re scaling the building across from April’s and Draxum’s apartment and Donnie stupidly reaches upwards with his injured arm to pull himself up and nearly blacks out from the agony that shoots down his entire body. He makes a split second noise of alarm as his feet fall out from under him and the plastic water bottle Mikey gifted him only fifteen minutes before slips out of Donnie’s backpack and goes reeling downwards to the water below. Donnie himself only avoids the same fate because of his uninjured arm, managing to grab a beam of the scaffolding with a pained moan.</p><p>The screams from his companions only make Donnie’s migraine bloom, the terror at literally being one handhold away from death weighing dull on his mind. He doesn’t know how one arm is holding up his entire body, but it's already starting to shake and he blinks languidly up at his family, pain becoming a distant throb as he considers them, <em> really </em> considers them. His three brothers. April. The people that’d wormed their way into his heart and wouldn’t leave. </p><p>For some reason he thinks of his father. On the brink of death, what did he see? Was it his sons? His family, the people Donnie’s never met?</p><p>A hand closes around his wrist. Donnie’s vision slides back into focus, blinking away spots. His arm is trembling with the strain. Raph’s above him on the scaffolding, scarred face mottled into a kind smile. “You’re not dying here, Donnie, I won’t let you,” Raph almost <em> scolds</em>, hoisting his younger brother upwards with just his arm. Donnie’s never been glad Raph worked out feverishly until right now. </p><p>“M’sorry, tried to grab - injured arm - don’t know what I was thinking, honestly,” Donnie manages as he finds purchase on a wooden plank, resting his hands on his knees woozily. “Whoa,” he says before falling to his knees on the weathered and worn wooden scaffolding, puking into the water far below. Raph immediately has a hand out to steady him so he doesn’t pitch forward off the side after the vomit, rubbing his back gently with his other. </p><p>“What are we going to do with you, Dee?” Raph mutters softly as Donnie hacks, getting the rest of the puke out of his stomach, and Donnie gets out a self-deprecating laugh, wiping his mouth before turning his face inwards, into Raph’s chest like he used to do when they were kids. “Leo - Mike, ‘Pril, yeah, he’s <em> okay</em>, shhh!” Raph motions at the rest of their little group as all three of them start asking frantic questions, popping down to make sure the great Donatello wasn’t really dead. “He’s burning up - April - </p><p>“We’re almost there, I promise.” April crouches down next to the two of them, placing a hand on Donnie’s forehead. “He’s running a fever. Let me see your arm, Donnie.”</p><p>He shifts to the side and lets her pull his sleeve up and the bandages back, watches her wince and carefully rewrap it. “Infections setting in. We have to get to Draxum’s, <em> now</em>.” </p><p>“I-” Donnie hesitates for a second, aware of their eyes on him. Closing his own so he didn’t have to look at their expressions, he forces himself to ask for help. “I don’t think I can climb...or walk,” he whispers - and it’s true. Holding on to that beam a minute ago seemed to have sapped all his remaining strength, and he feels closer to passing out then ever before. He looks apologetically to Raph, knowing that his oldest was going to have to carry him, but Raph just smiles again toothily.</p><p>“S’no problem, you know it isn’t. You sure you’ll be able to hang on?” </p><p>“Yeah,” Donnie hangs his head, having lost the remaining energy to even make sarcastic quips. April squeezes his hand encouragingly.</p><p>“We'll be there in a few, promise, 'partments just across the way. And Draxum’ll have all the medicine to fix you up.”</p><p>“You’ll be right as rain in no time, baby,” Mikey adds from above them, him and Leo peering down from a scaffolding beam like bats perching in a cave. Leo punches his shoulder, feather-lightly, and Mikey grumbles under his breath. “Bottom of the favorite brother list, Leo.” </p><p>“Shut up, Mikey,” Leo sticks his tongue out, and it brings a weak smile to Donnie’s face. Without these nutters Donnie would’ve given up such a long time ago, honestly. With Raph and April’s help he shakily gets to his feet again, tightening his backpack drawstrings as tight as they could go and awkwardly getting on Raph piggy-back style. Raph takes the brunt of Donnie’s weight with no issue, easily adjusting and tossing his own rucksack up to Donnie’s twin. “Aw, sure, give the sexiest brother the twenty pound backpack,” Leo huffs. “Pretty sure I’m gonna break my back one of these days.”</p><p>“As someone <em> with </em> a broken back...if I wasn’t delirious and three seconds from passing out I’d punch you,” Donnie manages between coughs, his eyes closing again and taking a bit longer to reopen this time. <em> Do not pass out. If you pass out you will fall off and most likely die. Do not pass out. Do not pass out, Donatello. </em> His chest gash stings now, being pressed against Raph like a baby monkey riding it’s mother. Leo mutters something back Donnie can’t catch, but Raph snaps at Leo to <em> move </em> and quit <em> arguing with his twin please and thank you</em>, Donnie’s near-death incident (the second one in <em> two </em>days, joy) put aside for the moment but not nearly forgotten as they all fall in again.</p><p>“Jesus Christ, Donnie,” Raph murmurs as he resumes climbing, glancing in through office windows as he does so. Donnie remembers they’re climbing parallel to an Apple office building, which would be <em> so </em> cool if they still had wifi. Snatch a phone or two. An Ipad for Mikey. “...I know we’re put in situations like that all the time, climbing and nearly dying an’ shit, but with you the way you are right now...the fact that you fell and <em> didn’t </em> die with the injuries you fuckin’ have…”</p><p>He doesn’t know if Raph’s expecting an answer, but he gives one anyway. “What can I say? My upper body strength really is incredible,” he rests his cheek against Raph’s back, closing his eyes as he feels the muscles clench and unclench under his shirt. It feels almost rhythmic, like sitting in one of those massage chairs at the mall for a couple dollars. Ah, spending money for a few minutes of enjoyment and pleasure. How he missed the functioning world. “You too, though. Pulled me up with just your arm, christ.”</p><p>“Kinda helps that you’re so fuckin’ <em> small</em>, Dee. Need to eat more.”</p><p>Donnie’s head pounds as he forces himself not to roll his eyes. “When we get to New Zealand I’ll keep that in mind.”</p><p>“Oh, my god, we’re really going to New Zealand?” he hears Mikey ask from somewhere to the upper right of them, and Raph sighs in exasperation while Donnie grins, eyes still closed as he waits for the banter that’s soon to be coming. “<em>Actually? </em>”</p><p>“Hey, I’m the one driving the damn thing, I get to decide where we go!” April snaps playfully, to the Hamato brother’s collective shock as everyone but Donnie all start asking questions at the same time. “<em>Yes</em>, I’m a pilot, Barry and I both are, he taught me how so we could prep for our inevitable escape.”</p><p>“God, is there anything you <em>can’t</em> do?” Leo mutters, both parts disgruntled and awestruck. “Medicine, piloting, <em>killing</em> <em>cannibals</em> - </p><p>“To be fair I think we’re all a bit of an expert in the last category,” Raph points out.</p><p>“True, true.”</p><p>“Anyway, New Zealand?” Mikey prompts excitedly. “I have constructed an <em> entire </em> list in my head on why it would be a great place for us to go after we get out of here. Wanna hear it?” </p><p>“Sure,” Raph and April say while Leo groans<em> oh god,</em> <em>no</em> and Donnie murmurs a <em>whatever</em>, pressing his face more firmly into Raph’s backside as if to escape as Mikey starts listing off different points. </p><p>“Kay, first of all it’s an island. So while it isn’t exempt from damage by the natural disasters it’ll have a lot less people. Plus I did a project on it in 7th grade and it's like...I dunno? Beautiful. There’s oceans and forests and meadows and <em> mountains </em> and so much cool shit, y’know? Like a paradise,” Mikey trails off dreamily. Donnie opens his eyes and rests his head on Raph’s shoulder, watching his youngest brother climb as he talks. “I’ve always wanted to visit, but...I mean, we’ve never gotten the chance. Until now,” he smiles cheerfully, like they didn’t have <em> so </em>much to do before even getting their escape vehicle. </p><p>“Yeah, well, it could very well be a wasteland too,” April reminds him gently. “I dunno much about the Southern Hemisphere but it’s prolly a fuckin’ wreck. Just warning you now.”</p><p>“Thanks for the heads up, April,” Mikey pouts, mock offense pouring from every pore in his youngest’s body. Donnie sighs. Oh, how he hated them all.</p><p>After another stretch of time with just periodic grunts and muttered curses as they climb higher and higher alongside the high-rise Apple building, April stops, putting her hands on her hips and glancing over the side of the narrow scaffolding. Briskly she turns away and faces inwards, towards the sleek window covered by a white...<em> curtain</em>, if that was the correct word. “Right,” she says, pulling the curtain to the side and exposing a dusty room that looked like it was straight out of <em> The Office </em>if everyone in the show had gone gung-ho and turned the place into a fall-out shelter.  “Everyone in.”</p><p>Wordlessly they filed in, following April through the dark and damp-feeling room, going through a set of double doors and quickly finding themselves on the other side of the building. Through tinted windows Donnie could see April and Draxum’s sanctuary maybe a few yards away, and his relief must’ve been palpable. So close. </p><p>“How’re we gonna get across?” Mikey asks, running up to the glass and pressing his palms flat against it, looking across towards the apartment building that was tantalizingly close but still out of reach. “Gap’s too big to jump.” </p><p>“Bridge,” April says simply, pointing towards a man-made hole in the strong glass and another wooden beam bridge like the one they’d crossed yesterday to get into Sunita’s hotel. This bridge was considerably larger, which was literally <em> fantastic </em> because he had no idea how his anxiety would fare if he let Raph cross such a tiny little thing with him on his back. Something would definitely go wrong.</p><p>Another potential crisis avoided, they all cross the smaller musky room to the hole in the glass, sending April, Leo, and Mikey over first before even attempting Raph and Donnie. Raph takes slow, measured steps, and Donnie squeezes his eyes shut because he could faintly hear the water all the way up here and his head is <em> still </em> spinning.</p><p>Apparently his body didn’t get the memo that Donnie would die if he suddenly pitched off the wooden bridge. Or that he <em> could </em> still die, at any point in time in this city, but was definitely more susceptible now. Donnie <em> loves </em> being injured. Absolutely loves it. </p><p>It's a relief to enter the building where they’d hopefully find a temporary sanctuary, though. A place to settle down and work out every kink in their escape plan - if Draxum would take them along, even. Donnie doesn’t want to get ahead of himself yet. This still all rides on the man’s final say. </p><p>But Donnie doesn’t want to convince him to go back to Sunita’s, either. He really didn’t want that kind of power in her hands. So he’d make this work out with Draxum even if it killed him. </p><p>After he got some medication and something to fix this rapidly spreading infection, of course. He can feel it now, itching down his arm and across his chest. He was glad he took the pain so his brothers didn’t have too, but <em> christ </em> did it hurt. </p><p>April knows the hallways by heart, taking the stairs downwards while chatting amicably with Mikey and Leo and Raph while Donnie preferred to listen, watching them all interact while his woozy thoughts spread between the present and off into - everything, really. Sunita. Draxum and April. The plane. Escaping off into the sunset with them all. Entertaining the faint flicker of hope that things might turn out alright for them yet. But cautiously fanning it so the flicker didn’t turn into a flame. Not yet.</p><p>“...and these rooms are where we keep the garden. Here, look,” April opens a seemingly random apartment door, and Donnie, still on Raph’s back, peeked into the room over his oldest’s shoulder. Where there should have been a living room/kitchen was horse trough after horse trough, all carefully angled in direct contact with the afternoon sun through the ceiling-to-floor windows. Plants were growing in all of the troughs, a couple feet tall and producing different vegetables like tomatoes and potatoes and lettuce. They were all recently watered, too. Donnie blinks in surprise. So Draxum was a <em> gardener, </em>apparently. </p><p>Donnie feels a touch of wariness creep in through his veins as he scans the garden. This Draxum guy didn’t come to play around. Him and April were perfectly well off out here alone, away from the gangs. It makes his stomach twist uncomfortably. If Donnie and his brothers knew that the two of them were out here, maybe they could’ve come lived <em> here </em> instead of scavenging through Foot and Dragon and occasionally Sunita territory.</p><p>Maybe they would’ve been happier. Not like happiness is really a top priority in the goddamn apocalypse, but it's always a great thing to consider.  </p><p>“Whoa,” Leo breathes, scanning the decaying room that seemed more alive than ever with the plants blooming like they were. “This is...insane, wow.”</p><p>“Right, anyway, our actual apartment’s down here,” April closes the door and moves further down the hallway, beckoning for them to follow. “Let me do the talking. First thing is to fix Dee up, and then...well, we’ll see where we go from there.”</p><p>“Great, brilliant plan,” Leo snips, and dodges the smack April sends him with a laugh. Clicking her tongue impatiently at him, April resolves to completely ignore Leo (something Donnie <em> loved </em> doing, truly) and stops at another door maybe half a dozen doors down from the garden room they’d just explored briefly. </p><p>Knocking gently, she leans her head in closer towards the wood. “Barry? It’s April, I’m back. And...uh, I made some friends.”</p><p>The door opens almost immediately, and Donnie and his brothers <em> finally </em> get their first look at the man Sunita so desperately wanted on her team. Baron Draxum looked even more imposing in the flesh. Tan skin, tall. Broad shoulders and a surly looking expression as he stared at them. They stared back, neither parties giving an inch. Chuckling like she’d rather be anywhere else, April gestures to each of her companions. “Barry, this is...Raph, Mikey, Leo. Donnie’s up there,” she jerks a thumb towards Donnie, and Draxum’s eyes flick between each of them as they’re introduced, eyes flashing with something Donnie can’t place.</p><p>“Donnie, Raph, Mikey, Leo.” Draxum repeats, slowly, and April freezes as his eyes narrow. Suddenly he points to each brother, repeating their own names back to them. “Donatello. Raphael. Michelangelo. Leonardo. I’ve only heard those names once before. You're brothers. My old friend...<em>Lou</em>,” he breathes out, scanning their faces. He looks...weak, all of a sudden, surly expression evaporating under the sudden - of <em> this</em>. “You're his sons.”</p><p>Donnie feels like he's been hit by a dump truck. What the <em> fuck</em>. “What the hell,” Leo weakly voices Donnie’s personal thoughts, and for once Donnie agrees with him whole-heartedly. “You - I’ve never met you in my life, who - how did you know that? Who <em> are </em>you?”</p><p>“Lou Jitsu’s sons, alive, <em>here</em>,” Draxum mutters like an insane person, and April sends a very confused and very worried look towards the four brothers like <em> is this man okay what did you guys do to break him</em>? “It’s been so long, I - you were all just <em> babies </em> when I last saw you boys - </p><p>“What,” Mikey says intelligently, and Donnie’s inclined to agree with <em>him</em>, too. “Wait, but - you - </p><p>“Where is he?” Draxum talks over him, not interested in a thing Mikey had to say at that moment as he - he leans <em> out</em>, into the hallway, looking down it as if expecting their father to be walking up with the five of them. Donnie’s stomach twinges painfully and he clenches a fist, digging his sharp nails into his palm. “Lou - where is he?” </p><p>April holds a tentative hand out towards the older man. “Barry, are you okay -</p><p>“<em>Where is he</em>?” Draxum snaps, and all five of them recoil at the actual pain in his voice. Seems like he already knew the answer, then. </p><p>“He’s dead,” Raph voices quietly after a strained beat of silence, and Draxum’s (and April’s) eyes fly to him, widening significantly. “Two years this winter.”</p><p>Draxum stares at him, speechless. Donnie feels pain from multiple places now - both physically and emotionally. He hated thinking about his father. He hated thinking about how his father was unfairly taken from them. He hated thinking about how it affected his brothers still, wore into them mentally, made them subdued everytime his father was brought up. Splinter was never supposed to die how he did. He was supposed to live longer, live his life to the fullest. </p><p>But because of the tsunamis he was just another person lost in the endless storm of misery. But now - Donnie looks towards the lost-looking man again, and taps Raph’s shoulder. Raph gently sets him down, steadies him as he takes a few unsteady steps forward so he’s standing in front of Draxum. “You knew our father,” Donnie breathes out. That tidbit’s already been established, but Donnie’s just registering it now, apparently.</p><p>“I - we were…” Draxum closes his eyes briefly before reopening them. Genuine pain circled in them. “We could’ve been…” Another pause. “More. <em> We were more</em>.”</p><p>Donnie swallows thickly even though there’s barely any moisture in his throat. “I’m sorry,” he bows his head as Mikey makes an <em> oh </em> noise and -</p><p>And holy shit, the man standing before him could’ve been his step-father.</p><p>Fuck, he needs to lay down.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>LOL WHY AM I LIKE THIS</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. YOUTH</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>sorry more of a filler but it has important bits in it too i promise</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There’s a moment of time, subsequent to April asking them to <em> explain </em> - multiple things, not <em> just </em> the monumental fact that the four boys were still staring at their could’ve-been stepfather - where Donnie nearly collapses again. He doesn’t know if it's because of the sudden shock or because his injuries were catching up to him again. Maybe both. </p><p>Raph’s there to steady him anyway, and for the first time Draxum’s eyes travel down to the bloody bandages encircling Donnie’s upper arm and the ruined purple sweatshirt that he was still stubbornly clinging to even with its numerous tatters and rips. Draxum shuffles backwards, beckoning them inside, motioning for Donnie to sit on the couch in their spacey living room. He still looks awestruck and mystified, but he’s got a hint of determination as he closes the door behind him, only speaking in a low voice to ask April for the medkit. </p><p>Donnie leans back against the loveseat, letting his head fall back against the cushions comfortably as he watches with lidded eyes. His brothers mill around, taking the other couches and keeping a very close eye on the second oldest of their quartet. Mikey purses his lips as he stares at Donnie openly, reaching for a hand and entangling their fingers together, squeezing gently before slinking to Raph’s side. “Hate seeing you like this, Dee,” Leo murmurs, the first thing he’s said since Draxum dropped the bomb on them minutes before. “Y’look so completely out of it, s’terrifyin’.”</p><p>Donnie manages nothing but a half-hearted groan in return. April and Draxum return then, April joining Donnie on the loveseat and smiling encouragingly at him. “Dee, we need the shirt off if we’re gonna patch you up.”</p><p>Donnie nods languidly, fighting the throbbing in his head and leaning forward so Draxum can get the ruined material off of him. Donnie lets his head fall back again as multiple people in the room make concerned noises through gritted teeth at the lack of <em> anything </em> on him - they could all probably count his ribs easily. The wound across his collarbone has red streaks around it, his mottled brown skin hot to the touch. April gingerly undresses his arm next, and the damp air in the apartment is bitingly cold. </p><p>“Where’d you find them?” Draxum asks April, pushing their apparent conjoined past - and <em> everything else </em> - aside for the moment as he takes Donnie’s arm in his scarred hands, tilting it to and fro gently as he examines the severity of the cut.</p><p>“Edge of No Man’s Land. Guess Nukpana’s gettin’ desperate, they sent twelve after these four.” </p><p>“Nukpana?” Leo asks, leaning forward on the couch and lacing his fingers together. His eyes don’t leave Donnie’s. “Who’s that?” </p><p>“They’re the leader. Runs the rest of those fuckers. Mean sonofabitch, m’telling you,” April starts taking off her gloves as she speaks, wiggling her fingers out. “Sunita’s bad, Casey and Kendra are bad<em>der, </em>but you better be glad you’ve never met Nukpana. They’d do anything to survive.” </p><p>“So there’s...four gangs in Manhattan, then. Not three?” Mikey asks. April narrows her eyes.</p><p>“I wouldn’t call the cannibals a...gang, Mikey. Three gangs and a ragtag group of fucked up individuals with cannibalistic tendencies, maybe,” she states bitterly, gesturing to Donnie as if reminding him what the group of <em> ragtag individuals </em> did to his brother. Mikey nods grimly as April continues. “The four of em’ took down eleven of them, I watched the entire thing happen. Wasn’t gonna step in, but after Donnie went down I shot the guy through.”</p><p>“Just in time, too,” Donnie lets his eyes fall closed as Draxum stops with the poking and prodding and instead turns his attention to the medkit. “He was about to stab me, and then I would’ve really been in trouble.”</p><p>Not like he wasn’t in trouble already. Apparently Draxum agrees, because his next question is the exact thing Donnie’s been stewing over since the night before. “The man that cut you. His knife, was it...dirty?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Donnie’s tongue feels heavy in his mouth, remembering the dried blood and dirt and who <em> knows </em> what else layered that knife. Definitely not a sterile blade if it managed to infect the wounds it left this quickly.</p><p>“Shit,” Draxum sits back, Donnie can feel him lean out of his space and sighs heavily in relief, still unsure on what to feel about the older man after what happened earlier. “When was your last tetanus shot?”</p><p><em> Tetanus shot</em>? Before the goddamn apocalypse, that’s for sure. “S’been awhile since our last appointment, but aren’t they good for ten years?” Donnie hears Raph ask. </p><p>Draxum makes a noise in the back of his throat, and Donnie tentatively opens his eyes as the man explains his pitchy noises. “Booster shots are <em> recommended </em>every ten years. But if you get a puncture wound it’s best to get another one anyway.” </p><p>“You think Donnie might have tetanus?” Leo asks, catching up on the conversation slowly. “How do you -</p><p>“Fever, nausea, sweating, irritability, delirium, fast heart-rate. All symptoms of tetanus, otherwise known as lockjaw,” Draxum stands, and again Donnie fights to keep his eyes open as the older man starts pacing. </p><p>“Well - how - how d’you cure it?” Mikey stands too, curling his hands anxiously into the fabric of his army shirt. “You can, right? <em> Right</em>?” he asks, a note of hysteria entering his voice when Draxum doesn’t answer immediately, and everyone watches with bated silence as Draxum continues to pace. </p><p>After another ten seconds - the longest ten seconds of Donnie’s entire life, granted - Draxum stops pacing abruptly, snaps his fingers, and looks to April. “The corner-store pharmacy. The one right down the street.” </p><p>April opens her mouth with an <em> oh, right</em>, <em> duh, i totally forgot </em> expression and Draxum continues. “Pharmacies have - medication, vaccines - tetanus shots too - it’ll be in the back rooms, on one of the shelves - </p><p>“The shelves that are and have been for the past three years <em> underwater</em>,” Leo reminds him, crossing his arms and - is that a hint of fear in his complexion? It leaves his twin’s features quickly enough, melting into that same cocky unbothered look. “How do you know this’ll work - if it’s even there or still - still <em> works</em>, labels and everything, and we’re not just putting some random shit in Dee’s body and hoping it fucking saves him?” he glances towards his twin, eyebrows contorting. “And Dee’s our best swimmer, always has been.”</p><p>Draxum exhales, long and heavy. “You have to <em> try</em>. If we don’t get medication for him he’s going to start seizing up and he won’t be able to move his throat or his jaw.” He doesn’t attempt to gloss over the details, getting right in with the nitty and the gritty and the <em>gruesome</em>. “He won’t be able to <em> breathe</em>.” </p><p>As almost as if on cue, Donnie starts coughing, a hack that leaves him wheezing and breathless as he hunches over, his arms instinctively curling up and making him wince as the injury on his upper arm brushes against his torso. Sweat dripped off his forehead in little droplets and landed on his clothed thighs and - he was getting sicker, so quickly, <em> too </em> quickly, it’s all too fast -</p><p>“Donnie, babe, sit up, don’t lean over, don’t strain your neck,” April gently tips his chin up, and Donnie once again falls back into the couch, making another pained noise as he does so. “He’s not going to last long without the shot,” April continues, looking him over and probably just noticing the infected discharge the wounds were now uttering by the concerned wince she makes. “We’ve gotta do it.” </p><p>“Okay,” Raph stands. “Let’s do it, then. April, you know where this place is?” </p><p>“‘Course I do, went down there all the time to get medicine for my parents ‘fore the world ended. I know exactly where the medicine is, I’ve watched the over-the-counter people work for years,” April stands, too. “They keep the medicine in a locked room in the back, but - I can’t hold my breath that long underwater. Never could swim,” she makes a noise that sounds almost like a chuckle.</p><p>“Leo can do it,” Donnie manages softly, immediately catching the attention of everyone in the room. “He can hold his breath….for at least three minutes…”</p><p>He doesn’t bother to tell April and Draxum that Donnie and his twin used to have those stupid hold-your-breath underwater challenges at the public indoor pool for <em> years </em> - or the fact that Splinter once genuinely thought they were drowning and jumped in to save them. It makes his heart clench and <em> fuck </em> he misses his Dad -</p><p>“<em>Donnie</em>,” Leo hisses, now looking more than a little panicked, but pauses as he internally reflects on the gravity of the situation. “Okay,” he says slowly, standing. “I’ll do it, but - but you gotta keep the weird shit away from me down there. I don’t tangle with sharks.” </p><p>Donnie manages a weak laugh at that. “You’re so fucking stupid, I - I made -” another cough that turns into a wheeze, and he’s <em> tired </em> of his stupid injuries but grounds the words out anyway. “I made it up, Leon.” </p><p>He didn’t make it up. And everyone knew it, but Leo still gives a strained smile in return and it makes everything better. “Mike, stay with Dee, help Draxum if he needs it,” Raph ruffles Mikey’s curls, and Mikey nods diligently. “Okay, let's do this now, ‘fore shit gets worse.” Despite the urgency in his voice it still takes him and Leo a bit to move, looking over Donnie and Mikey reluctantly. They’ve never split up like this before. Ever. </p><p>“They’ll be fine,” April promises gently, slowly ushering them to the door. “Draxum’ll take care of em’ both.”</p><p>Hesitantly they let April herd them to the door, and when it clicks shut after them Mikey rises from his couch and takes April’s now abandoned place on the loveseat. “D’you think they’ll be okay?” he asks in the sudden silence of the room, a question probably meant for Donnie, but Draxum answers instead.</p><p>“As long as they’ve got April with them, they could survive anything. Even a bomb,” Draxum says with all the confidence in the world, and Donnie privately agrees. </p><p>Doesn’t stop the churning feeling in his chest, though.</p><p>Wait, maybe that was the infection. </p><p>Fuck.</p><p>
  <em>-</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>-</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>-</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Fucking hate that bitch,” Leo snarls as the door closes behind Sunita’s petite figure, and Donnie nods in agreement as the four of them were left in her quaint little penthouse hallway. “M’serious, I can’t stand her. I can’t. Why the fuck are we still doing shit for her?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Keep your voice down,” Raph hisses as they make their way to the stairs, taking them down two at a time. “You’ll be the one who gets us killed one of these days.”  </em>
</p><p><em>Leo scoffs, but his voice gets considerably quieter as they take the flights of stairs downwards. Donnie glances out one of the windows on the landings as they descend and sees dusk is finally approaching. Before he used to love the nighttime. Now all it brings him is the uncomfortable feeling of </em>unsafe <em>unsafe</em> <b><em>unsafe</em></b>. <em>The Foot were growing larger, what with Casey Jones as their new ruler, and there’s been talk of another gang, a newer one in-between the Foot and Sunita’s terf. </em></p><p>
  <em> Something about Dragons? Mikey could honestly say the craziest shit sometimes. </em>
</p><p><em> “S’been three months since </em> Dad,<em> Raph, and - I know Sunita’s given us shelter, but these missions she keeps sending us on are gonna get us killed - </em></p><p>
  <em> “ - I know, Leo, but we’ve gotta do it, what else is there for us out there? We’d get killed if we went off on our own -  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> - </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> - </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> - </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The man’s voice is frantic, his disheveled appearance making the whole situation somehow more horrifying. “N-no, please, please, you can’t -  </em>
</p><p><em> “I can’t?” Sunita asks, her curled bob blowing out of perfection in the harsh breeze</em><em>. </em> <em> Knife to the man’s throat, tantalizingly dipping down to the curve of his adam’s apple before dragging the sharp point up to his eye. Donnie and his brothers stand quietly on her balcony, hardly daring to breathe as they watch her interrogate the Purple Dragon soldier. </em></p><p>
  <em> The same Purple Dragon soldier they dragged to her doorstep.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Donnie swallows down his guilt. He was just doing his job.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Doesn’t make it feel any better, though. “It was a simple question, asshole, who do you work for?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Kendra, I work for - Kendra, okay? Please, just let me go - </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Kendra’s the leader?” Sunita presses, ignoring his plea. The man nods as much as the knife would allow him to without it grazing his fair skin, and Sunita nods too, satisfied with the answer. “That’s funny.” Without hesitation she plunges the sharp knife into the base of his throat, and he tries to scream but Sunita covers his mouth and muffles it successfully. Not even flinching as the thick blood stains her palms.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Mikey stiffens beside him, and despite his unflinching expression Donnie knows he’s terrified. Raph squeezes his eyes shut on his other side, and Donnie can’t see Leo’s face from where he’s situated but aches for him. Aches for all three of them. This isn’t who their Dad would have wanted them to become. This isn’t -  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> - </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> - </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> - </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “I’m offering you the chance of a lifetime,” Sunita promises, sits across from them on her balcony table, her hands still bloody and eyes hooded with darkness only a killer could wear. The Sun sets behind her, nearly gone but not quite, bathing a orange-ish glow on all five of them. “Safety in numbers. A group of people who’d give their backs to protect you, s’long as you give the same courtesy in return.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Donnie wants to say a mixture of things as he listens to her talk. Things that would get him and his brothers killed, so he bites them back. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Raph does not. “We appreciate the offer. But we decline.” He says, like they didn’t just watch her murder someone twenty-three minutes ago exactly. “I think we’re better off alone.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Sunita’s expression contorts, vicious and angry, and Donnie fumbles under the table for his staff - </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Fine,” she says, voice nearly shaking in anger, drags a bloody finger through her tangled bob. “Your loss.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>“Donnie,” Mikey taps his arm gently, and Donnie's eyes snap open almost immediately. It’s nighttime now, and for a second Donnie nearly reaches for his staff to fight Sunita off. But no, it’s just his brother. He’s safe, they were safe in Draxum’s apartment. “Dee, hey, you passed out. Are you good to come eat? Draxum made soup.”</p><p>“I…” Donnie evaluates how he’s feeling at the moment. His skin still feels slightly hot and sticky to the touch, and his injuries are burning, but at least he’s not as sleep-deprived as he was a few hours ago. He’s assuming it’s hours, since it's now somehow nighttime. </p><p>Leo, Raph, and April are still gone. Donnie pushes away the very rational fear clawing at his stomach and nods weakly. Mikey gives a bright smile back in return and helps him stand, looping an arm around his back and gently leading him over to the massive kitchen table. </p><p>Draxum nods at him briefly, and Donnie nods back, but his thoughts are on his - dream? Flashback? What was <em> happening </em> to him, why was he remembering these things in vivid detail - first his and Leo's birthday, then his father’s last words to him, and - now Sunita? Christ, maybe the apocalypse really <em> was </em> taking a toll on him. Donnie sits, leans back against the back of his chair, and exhales. Hunger was sliding right up next to the fear now, and it preens happily as Draxum sets his bowl in front of him. “Enjoy,” Draxum says quietly before disappearing back into the kitchen, and Donnie murmurs a ‘thank-you’ before reaching for his spoon. </p><p>Mikey’s talking a mile a minute like usual, catching him up on everything he’s missed. “Kay, so, Draxum told me he was a survivalist, which is why he and April have lived out here so long by themselves and haven’t died out. They eat soup nearly everyday, and they mix leftovers and shit from the garden into it, isn’t that <em> amazing</em>? They’ve been working on this soup since the beginning, and!” Mikey cuts himself off as Draxum reappears, carrying three glasses of a white drink Donnie hasn’t seen in <em> years</em>. “Is that powdered milk?” Mikey asks excitedly, and Draxum nods, gingerly placing all three glasses on the table. </p><p>“Powdered milk?” Donnie asks dubiously, reaching for his glass as Draxum sits down across from them. </p><p>“Indefinite milk that doesn’t need to be refrigerated,” Mikey nods smartly. “S’just like regular milk, Dee, mixed with water and a little sugar.” </p><p>Donnie takes a hesitant sip, marvels quietly at how <em> good </em> it felt to drink something besides just straight water, and nearly drinks half of it in one go. Eventually he lowers the glass from his lips and grabs his spoon again, digging it into the warm broth before pushing it through his scarred and chapped lips. The taste and <em> flavor </em> is unlike anything Donnie’s experienced in the past three years and he is about to <em> literally moan from happiness what the fuck - </em></p><p>Draxum’s watching him, looking oddly wistful, but before Donnie can comment on it he speaks. “Like it?”</p><p>“It’s great, thank you,” Donnie stammers. “I don’t think I could ever go back to canned goods after this.”</p><p>Draxum finally lets a smile adorn his features. “We have plenty, just tell me if you want more. How do you feel?”</p><p>“Uh...I dunno. Not great, but a lot better? I think the sleep helped. And this, too,” he gestures downwards to the food.</p><p>“I cleaned your wounds out best I could, bandaged them up. Once they get back and you get your shot you should start to get better, the infection should clear up on its own. Until then, well...eat up, stay hydrated, and lots of sleep. You should be better in a few days.”</p><p>“A few days?” Donnie glances sideways to Mikey, who’s softly smiling as he eats his own soup. Then that means... “But...wait, what about…” He wants to talk about Sunita, he wants to stick to the plan, to convince Draxum to take them to paradise, there’s just so much he needs to <em> say</em>, but -</p><p>“Michelangelo said you can help fix the plane, correct? Then you and your family can come with,” Draxum chuckles at the flabbergasted look on Donnie’s face. “I don’t care that you worked with Sunita before, you’re here now and you want out. That’s good enough for me. Plus, you - you’re Lou’s kids,” his face grows somber and Donnie nearly flinches. The smile is gone from Mikey’s face. “After everything that happened between us, I…I owe it to him.”</p><p>Uncomfortable silence stretches out between the three of them, and Donnie, not knowing what to say, returns to his soup. </p><p>It’s not quiet for long, though, because Mikey’s too curious to stay quiet. “So - you and Dad were, y’know, a <em> thing</em>?” he asks between bites of soup, and Donnie nearly chokes on his spoonful. Draxum blinks owlishly at Mikey and Donnie wants to <em> die</em>. </p><p>Draxum clears his throat awkwardly after fifteen painful seconds, refocusing on the conversation. “Er, yes. He never talked about me?” he asks, almost hopefully, and Donnie and Mikey shake their heads. He sighs. “That isn’t surprising. We didn’t end on a very good note before we split.”</p><p>“How’d you meet?” </p><p>“I got him out of a nasty situation with one of the...employers he was involved with. Romantically. Never knew her real name, but people called her Big Mama. Nasty lady,” Draxum waves his hand. “Hoped she died in the first wave.”</p><p>Interesting, so Dad was bisexual. “He was a drug addict. Cocaine, meth, weed, the works. Sho kicking him out of the Clan was too much, so he turned to the only thing he thought would help. It was awful to watch. Hollywood ruined him, so we came here, to New York, but it wasn’t helping.”</p><p>Donnie blinks slowly. That didn’t sound like Splinter at all - their father forbade drugs in the apartment completely. Grounded Leo for two weeks when he was stupid enough to bring one of those vape sticks home. “But -</p><p>“And then he came home from the store and told me that he’d run into this couple with children and he was just...shocked by how <em> happy </em> the family was. He told me he wanted kids, wanted a family, he said he’d do anything to be happy like they were. And then he washed all of his drugs down the sink to prove it to me.” He pauses, takes a sip from his milk glass. Donnie and Mikey watch, their undivided attention on the man sitting across from them.</p><p>“The withdrawals were horrible, and our fights definitely weren’t healthy for a couple, but we - <em>he</em> pushed through. The look on his face when we went into the adoption center for the first time and saw you four...it made everything worth it,” he smiles fondly, lost in the memories. “Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael. It’s funny, because those aren’t even your original names. He renamed you four after he was cleared for adopting.” </p><p>God, this conversation really was just one revelation after another, huh? Donnie can’t picture his name as anything <em> but </em> Donatello, and he knows Mikey feels the same about Michelangelo. Their names were another thing that tied them together - they were like a set, the four of them. Take one out and you lose the other three. Storing that information away to tell Leo and Raph when they return, he downs the rest of his soup as Draxum continues. </p><p>“You were such strange children. You,” he nods to Mikey, “stuck to Raphael like some sort of...<em>koala.</em> Everywhere he went you crawled after him. And you and Leonardo were exactly the <em>same</em>," he motions to Donnie. "You were born the same year, the same month, the same <em> day</em>. The four of you...it was like fate for you to be family, even if there was never any blood relation. You were inseparable even as babies.” </p><p>Mikey shifts closer to Donnie, and when Donnie glances to him he takes note of the unnerved expression on his face. Probably because of how <em> accurate </em> everything Draxum was saying sounded. Before the tsunamis they spent <em> all </em>their time together. If one disappeared they’d disappear only for a few hours before another brother sought him out. Most siblings hate each other growing up, and it’s not like Donnie never fought with his brothers, but it was different. </p><p>Donnie used to hate it. Now he was nostalgic for it all, running down the streets with his brothers on his heels, buying pretzels and waltzing under the tall trees in Central Park. Laughing over Leo finding <em> every single fucking male </em> at school attractive (he texted the groupchat about how gay he was constantly and it drove Raph up the walls) but still stammering nervously when he was asked out to junior prom. Life seemed like it couldn’t ever get worse.</p><p>And then the world <em> ended</em>. Their Dad died. They were forced to infiltrate rivaling gangs just for a place to sleep at night. Just to...earn their keep. Donnie finishes the rest of his soup and looks up to Draxum, a part of both his past and his present. “Thank you,” he says, and Draxum raises his bushy eyebrows, confused.</p><p>“For what?” </p><p>“You helped our dad through a lot of bad things, and...you’re here, helping me - helping <em> us </em> now. Everything kinda made a full circle,” Donnie finally smiles, and Mikey grins, resting his chin on Donnie’s bandaged arm. “I think I would’ve been glad to call you my father.” He doesn't need to ask what tore Draxum and Splinter apart, that wasn't his business. He was with them now and that's all that mattered.</p><p>The look on Draxum’s face is heart-wrenching and before anyone can continue the conversation there’s a rapid knock at the apartment door. “They’re back,” Draxum exhales in relief, and stands to get to the rest of their...their conjoined family. The thought sends warmth spreading through his entire body. April and Draxum fit in with their insanity like they’d always been. </p><p>Splinter would be proud if he could see them all now. Donnie held no doubt. </p><p>It was almost pathetic how Leo and Raph immediately rush to their brothers as soon as the door is open. Or how Donnie feels the crushing weight of anxiety? Fear that as soon as his brothers disappeared from sight they’d die? Whatever it was, he feels it lift from his shoulders. “Hey,” he says, grinning stupidly as they beeline straight to the table. “How’re you?” </p><p>“We’re great,” Raph utters distractedly as he quickly checks Donnie over. “Are you good or?” </p><p>“I just had a full bowl of soup and powdered milk. And I figured out more of Dad’s mysterious backstory. We’re good,” Donnie lets Leo poke and prod at him anxiously for a few more seconds before gently slapping his hands away. “And you three? What happened?” </p><p>“‘Kay, so, we looted the entire place,” the door clicks shut and is locked, and then April comes bounding around the corner and takes a free chair, dropping a full to the brim backpack full of medicine on the table. “Surprisingly nothing too bad happened, the door was unlocked so Leo just swam down with the flashlight and grabbed shit, an' pulled it up.” she grimaces. </p><p>“Why are you grimacing,” Mikey asks, poking her in the cheek. She doesn’t even react to the poke, answering the question with a resigned sigh.</p><p>“A cabinet fell on Leo when he was trying to grab some of the boxes that fell underneath.” </p><p>“A what. Fell on. Who.”</p><p>“Leo.”</p><p>“I think that needs to be said twice. <em> Leo</em>.” </p><p>“True.” </p><p>“I’m fine! Couldn’t breathe for a second there, but - it was fine! Raph got it off of me,” Leo protests weakly, and Mikey just scoots over and pulls Leo into the seat, shoving the half-eaten soup bowl in his direction. </p><p>“Since neither you <em> or </em> Dee can stay out of danger for <em> one </em>full day you will both be keeping it on the downlow for at least a week,” Mikey reprimands them all like he’s not the youngest one in the room and Donnie rolls his eyes fondly as April starts sifting through the backpack. </p><p>“We’ve got the shot,” she announces half a second later, pulling out a watertight clear box with a syringe inside. Said syringe was filled with amber liquid. “Pull your sleeve up, Dee, let’s get this baby in you.” </p><p>Donnie does as she says as April comes around the side of the table, pulling the syringe out as she walks. “You sure this’ll work?” </p><p>“In this world there’s no guarantee, but...yeah, I think so,” April returns quietly, so Donnie raises his arm in silent offering. She wipes both the needle and his arm down with a sanitizing wipe and then plunges the needle into his skin, emptying its contents into his arm. “Cheers to Donnie getting better!” April laughs, pulling the needle out after another five seconds, and his brothers cheer with her. </p><p>“Children, children,” Draxum says, though he’s smiling, too. “Are you three hungry?” he asks Raph, April, and Mikey, since Leo was now happily feasting on Mikey’s bowl. The three in question nod excitedly, and Draxum disappears back into the kitchen once again. April returns to her seat and goes sifting through the backpack again while Raph takes the only free seat at the table left.</p><p>Minutes later Draxum’s back, precariously balancing three soup bowls, and April bounces upwards to help him out. Donnie finishes the rest of his milk while everyone ravishly attacks their individual meals. “What’s the plan?” Raph asks tiredly once they’ve all moved past the frenzied need to just get food<em> into </em> their bodies.</p><p>Draxum answers, watching them eat. “Donatello needs to rest, and by the looks of it so does Leonardo. With the engine plans you grabbed I can finally start working on fixing the plane, and...hopefully with his help,” he nods towards Donnie as he continues, “We can get out of here by the end of this month. Before winter hits would be spectacular.” </p><p>Leo drops his spoon into his empty bowl, and it leaves a clatter. “Wait, so you really mean - </p><p>“Yes, we’re included in that ‘we’!” Mikey giggles, latching onto Leo in a side hug that leaves his brother uncomfortably stiffening as his bad arm is crushed in Mikey’s grip. Mikey lets go quickly, resolving to just lay his head on Leo’s shoulder. “Sorry, just got really excited,” he chuckles nervously, and Leo ruffles his hair. </p><p>“S’fine Mike, but…” Leo looks towards Draxum again. “Are you sure you can... for lack of a better word, <em>trust</em> us? I mean, we worked with Sunita for months, and...we were sent here to get you on her side…”</p><p>“I don’t care about any of that,” Draxum echoes from earlier, a kind look in his eyes. “Michelangelo told me everything, about the kinds of things that women forced you through just to stay alive. We've all been forced to do bad things since the tsunamis hit, but...I can tell you four wouldn't have spent a day with Sunita if you knew there was <em>more</em> out there besides gangs. You’re more than welcome to come along, if you really want to.” </p><p>It was like a dream come true. “Well, guys?” Leo glances down the table towards Donnie and Raph, already knowing how Mikey felt on the situation. “What’s our answer?” </p><p>Donnie grins, knowing that this was the right way, this was what they’ve been searching for for the past three years. This was it, their salvation, their escape. He sits forward, feels the shot - the <em>cure</em> for his injuries already beginning to take effect. “We’re in.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>anyway hi &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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